Points of order

Cliftonville’s bid to get back to winning ways in the Danske Bank Premiership will be made all the more difficult by Dungannon Swifts sharing the same motivation, says boss Paddy McLaughlin.

Both sides slipped to defeats last weekend – the Reds being narrowly overcome by Linfield while the Swifts suffered a heavy loss at Coleraine – and, having won their respective County Antrim Shield and Mid-Ulster Cup outings on Tuesday night, will be raring to bounce back by pocketing all three points at Stangmore Park tomorrow.

“Any time you lose, you want to get straight back out on the pitch to start picking up points again,” explains McLaughlin.

“You always want to put things right so we’ll be going to Stangmore hungry to get a good result for ourselves, but it’ll be the same for Dungannon because they were beaten last Saturday, too.

“Games down there are always difficult. Dungannon like to get the ball down and play football the right way and it’s a tight pitch that they work you hard on. They make life difficult for teams but I’d like to think people say that about us as well, so we’ll be going there expecting a real fight.

“We were unlucky to lose last week because I thought we attacked well and defended well but there was just one moment that Linfield made the most of and that was enough to win the game for them. We’ll need the same performance levels and it’s important we make the most of whatever chances we create.”