IT is a change of pace for Cliftonville this weekend as they, along with Coleraine, enter the Third Round of the Scottish Challenge Cup.

The Reds travel to Kirkcaldy to take on last year’s runners-up Raith Rovers at Starks Park (Saturday, 2pm) looking to respond to back-to-back defeats for the first time this campaign.

It is far from ideal given their bright start to the campaign and manager, Jim Magilton, has challenged his side to find a response against the Scottish Championship side and acknowledges they will need to in what represents a step up in class.

Having fallen to a narrow defeat at The Oval at the weekend, Magilton was disappointed to see his side crash out of the County Antrim Shield with a 3-2 defeat to Carrick Rangers and was concerned with the performance levels on show.

“We have to go bang at it,” he demanded.

“I wanted to win this competition [County Antrim Shield]. The team tonight, in terms of the group was as strong as I could put out. There were one or two things behind the scenes in terms of niggles and whatever else. You want to win every game that you play. It’s the performance levels that I am more concerned about.

“That was not a great performance in terms of quality and in terms of intensity. We talked about that, and we’ve talked about that from pre-season and there was distinct lack of both tonight. That cost us and we’ve got to lick our wounds now, regroup and go again on Saturday.”

The Reds’ boss was felt his side lacked a spark and took things for granted after leading through a sensational Ben Wilson strike in their midweek defeat.

However, he is adamant that responsibility in terms of team selection lies on his shoulders.

“We lacked spark, even after a bright start,” Magilton acknowledged.

“We can’t just tip up. I’ve been there so I can talk to the players like this. I’ve been at games like this, I’ve started games like where you just think that you’re going to turn up, play and win and you can’t. If you take this game for granted it bites you, and it’s bitten us tonight.

“What I don’t want to see is that temperament of cheap. The goals were cheap tonight, other than the first one, which was a great goal, but they were cheap. We just cannot have that. Teams should earn the right to score goals against us and we’ve done that really well, I think.

“Tonight, was a real learning curve for us and we can’t have it. Changing rooms are run by players as we know and to have a quiet changing room after that, they can’t wait for a manager or staff to come in and lay the law down.

“We’ve watched it and players have to take responsibility there and there is a certain degree of accountability. I take full responsibility for selecting the side based on minutes and giving them time.”

Magilton isn’t in a position to confirm whether any of his trio of injured attackers are ready to return in the coming games and isn’t using their absence as any excuse for defeats.

“We’re day by day,” he revealed.

“We’re obviously hopeful, they give us extra impetus off the bench - of course they do. That wasn’t the reason we lost the game tonight.

“Of course, we want that quality, one hundred per cent. Up until this point, we haven’t had that. We had Joe (Gormley), obviously, for the first few games.

“There are no excuses tonight. I take responsibility for selecting the team, one hundred per cent and I’m accountable for that and I’ll hold my hands up.

“I’m always concerned about my thought process around performance levels. If you dip in this league - I’m still a rookie in terms of that - but you get punished. Credit to Carrick, they punished us tonight and we don’t want a repeat.”