CLIFTONVILLE manager Jim Magilton insists his side must put the disappointment of their midweek clash to Portadown being abandoned due to floodlight failure to one side and take the positives of the performance into Saturday's North Belfast Derby with Crusaders.
Crusaders make their second trip to Solitude of the season (3pm kick-off) looking to make it back-to-back derby wins after their 1-0 win on St Stephen’s Day.
Both sides are in desperate need of three points, with Cliftonville aiming to get back into the top six and guarantee a European Play-Off spot at the end of the season, while Crusaders are bidding to escape a Play-Off spot at the other end of the table. It’s safe to say there is plenty at stake when the North Belfast neighbours go to battle.
“The lads are very disappointed, of course they are,” acknowledged Magilton.
“These things happen [floodlight failure], not very often but they do happen. You have to take it in your stride. We’ve got to go again and look forward to the derby on Saturday.
“They are a brilliant bunch. There was a recognition on Friday night that we let ourselves down in terms of not seeing out the game.
“I felt at 2-1 we were in control of the game and I felt that we were going to go on and maybe win the game, and we didn’t and it was our own downfall. There wasn’t very much conversation because the turnover of games – you can’t dwell. What you say after the game is done and you don’t dwell on that.
“What you talk about is going here, presenting yourself, stand up, play to the conditions. I thought that we presented ourselves excellent tonight and on another night we go on and win the game."
Jim Magilton will be hoping his side can rise to the occasion on Saturday
Magilton was more than pleased with what he saw from his side in the 41 minutes on Tuesday evening and thought it was a good response to their defeat at Stangmore Park on Friday evening.
“There is no right time, of course there is not – it is disappointing obviously for both teams,” Magilton added.
“Portadown will still have thought there was something in the game because of the opportunities. From our perspective, it was building on the disappointment and I thought we did. I thought we took the game to the opposition and that was the pleasing aspect of the game.
“I just felt that we had enough in the game to give us enough confidence to go on and win the game. I felt that for a while, and I felt that on Friday night at 2-1.
“I thought we’ve seen out a lot of the threat that Dungannon posed, and then we conceded two really poor goals. Defensively, really poor goals, and that has kind of a way followed us this year to an extent and that’s why we haven't picked up enough points."
Tuesday’s abandonment means there are likely to be no free midweek slots before the league splits at the end of the March and a gruelling routine for a Reds side that suffered four injury set-backs as recent as Friday evening.
“We’re going to have to fill them in somewhere. In all honesty, players prefer to play than train. The problem we have – after Friday night we are down four bodies,” Magilton revealed.
“Jonny Addis will be out for three weeks, Micheál Glynn three weeks, Kyle McClelland broke his toe and is out for eight weeks, Joe Sheridan has been nursing an ankle and we have been nursing other lads and trying to give them minutes.
“PJ [Morrison] has a broken thumb and is a couple of weeks away. It’s just sod's law and that sums up again tonight with that luck.
“Our body count after Friday night was devastating but it gave other people an opportunity. Getting Luke Conlon back on the pitch was important for us and we didn’t lose any more bodies after tonight and we move on now to Saturday.
“It’s a massive challenge for us. We needed to strengthen the squad. It was quite evident that we needed to strengthen the squad for sheer numbers in January.
“It’s not a window I particularly like, but we needed bodies and the bodies we brought in are going to make a difference hopefully.
“Losing the game was hard enough to take [on Friday] but then losing that experience in our group. Bringing Kyle in from Glenavon and that is a huge disappointment not only for him, but for us and obviously Addis and Glynn are important players for us."
Cliftonville will host their city rivals Crusaders on Saturday afternoon with kick-off set for 3pm at Solitude.
