CLIFTONVILLE boss Jim Magilton believes that Saturday's trip to Dungannon Swifts is a different ball game to anything else they will face week to week.
The Reds make the trip to Stangmore Park to take on the Swifts (kick-off 3pm) hoping to end their six-game losing streak and begin to move up the table.
Magilton acknowledged how difficult Stangmore Park is because of the Swifts quality that they possess, but insists his side have to do something to combat the threat of Rodney McAree’s charges.
“Saturday is just a different ball game for us,” insists Magilton.
“It is a league game, it’s away from home. Dungannon notoriously is a very difficult place to go because of the quality that they possess in their team.
“We’ve got to try and do something to stop that. The games we have lost by the odd goal have been devastating.
“We did the basics really well tonight. We did the basics extremely well last Tuesday night against Glentoran. We dominated the game but just didn’t deal with the basics of the game on Saturday that is crosses into the box and defending your box.
“No matter how you dress it up, the game is always won in the two boxes. You may have a way you want to play but it actually doesn’t mean a whole lot if you can’t defend one box and can’t put the ball in the other box”.
Tuesday evening's 2-0 win over Portadown in the Bet McLean Cup was only the Solitude side's fourth clean sheet of the season, something Magilton outlined is the foundation to winning games.
“Clean sheets are the foundations to win football matches,” he said.
“We haven’t had enough of them this season. We’ve got a massive game on Saturday, we’ve got to try and stop the bleeding in the league and that is an important game.
“We take each game as it comes.Tonight was good, really good, some fantastic performances.
“Overall, I just thought we dominated the game with the ball, which is important. We dominated the ball on Saturday but didn’t finish opportunities off. We took our opportunities tonight and that is the difference at this level.
Magilton was further pleased that their pre-game paid off with Alex Bannon’s opener on Tuesday evening.
“It was a great delivery, we worked at it,” Magilton explained.
“We are so diligent in our set-pieces, we spend a lot of time on them and there is a lot of effort gone into that and prep work.
“It was a great finish from Alex and I'm delighted. It’s always difficult as Saturday proved. You can be dominant, but if you don’t defend properly.
“We didn’t properly on Saturday, we didn’t defend crosses properly but tonight I thought we did.
“That’s the difference between winning and losing. The fine margins and that is the game. Tonight, we were excellent and now we’ve got to dust ourselves down and recover quickly.
“A lot of lads have played a lot of games. We’ll have a body count on Thursday and then we’ve got to get ready for a big game on Saturday”.
Rory Hale was on the of the latest players to join the absentee list through an achilles problem and ankle knock sustained at the weekend, but Magilton was full of praise for Harry Wilson and his leadership at Shamrock Park.
“Harry is a very quiet, unassuming character off the pitch” he acknowledged.
“When he comes on the pitch, actions speak louder than words. Harry is that type and he was always my candidate to take the armband.
“He has been outstanding for the football club. Again, this is his fourth game in two weeks- we have to manage Harry and a few of them.
“Liam McStravick deserves a special mention, he is carrying a knee injury and wanted to play, desperate to do well.
“We’ll have another body count on Thursday, we’ll see how we are, we’re losing bodies. Dan O’Connor could be out for a month, Rhyss Campbell made a surprising return but delighted.
“Joe’s ankle was very swollen on Saturday, Rory had an achilles- he also had a really, really bad knock on his ankle after what I thought was a dangerous tackle. We obviously have to manage our group very, very carefully.
“We had our kids on the bench tonight, who are really, really good players in Stanfield and Cillian Murray- who are going to be very, very good players if we can keep hold of them”.
