CLIFTONVILLE manager Jim Magilton believes that serious questions will be asked of his squad as they prepare for their first North Belfast derby of the season.

The Reds make the short trip to the Shore Road to take on Irish Cup winners Crusaders at Seaview under the Sky cameras on Monday evening (7.45pm kick-off).

Magilton’s side come into the game off the back of three defeats on the spin since a draw with Larne at the end of August and he has called on his players to learn from mistakes, errors and decisions that have cost them in recent weeks.

“We’re preparing exactly the same way,” Magilton insists.

“Serious questions will be asked – of course there will. We’ve played the top three from last year and we now play Crusaders. It’s a local derby away from home. We have to stand up and be counted. It’s a good game we should relish.

“We want to be competitive. We’ve been competitive in every league game. The two cup games, not so much. We had a bright start against Carrick and then got punished. We had a bright start at the weekend and then got punished. We have to take this one on the chin again and lessons learned. We have to learn from mistakes, errors and decisions that we made that have cost us.”

Magilton believes the Reds can take lessons from their inclusion in the SPFL Trust Trophy and tie with Raith Rovers, believing it would have been interesting had they capitalised on their first half opportunities.

“Yeah, I think we’ve taken something from it,” believes Magilton.

“We’ve played against a side that are very confident at the minute. I thought for 45 minutes that it was a contest. It would have been interesting, had we taken our chances what the outcome would have been. Certainly they would have had to press the game more.

“There is no excuses for us turning the ball over. We’re a team that are quite used to that in terms of the press. You have to be brave enough and have to be courageous enough to play under that sort of pressure. We didn’t today and when we turned it over, we were punished for it.”

The Reds boss emptied his bench, in Kirkcaldy with Shea Kearney and recent signing Reece Jordan making their first competitive appearances in Stark’s Park and whilst Magilton acknowledged that the absence of four of his regulars is a huge loss, he has faith that his youthful element are up to the task of stepping in.

“We’ve four big hitters off for us at the minute,” Magilton acknowledged.

“They would play a major part for us in terms of the opportunity to score goals. Missing Joe, Ronan, Ryan, and Stephen Mallon – it’s a big loss, for our level of the game it’s a huge loss. I’ve great faith in the kids. I like them a lot and I think they are going to be good players. The more experience that they get at this level, I think it is going to stand them in good stead for the future.”