Full throttle

Paddy McLaughlin believes Cliftonville still have a couple of gears to climb but, ahead of tonight’s Danske Bank Premiership clash with Glentoran, is focusing first and foremost on his side performing for the entirety of the game.

The Reds head to The Oval on the back of a hugely disappointing defeat to Ballymena United, who were played off the park in the first-half of the contest only to be met with significantly less resistance after the break.

Boss McLaughlin is aware that there were positives to take from that Showgrounds setback, but would much rather have basked in the glow of victory – and wants his players to give a more sustained account of themselves this evening.

“Sometimes you have to roll your sleeves up and grind things out but we didn’t do that last week,” he reflects.

“We scored a brilliant goal. Everything was one-touch and that’s the sort of thing we have in our locker but there’s no point in doing that and playing well if you end up coming away with nothing at the end of it.

“There were definitely positives, especially in our first-half performance which was probably the best we have played in my time here, but the most important thing is always the result and we came away on the wrong side of it.

“We have good players capable of playing quality football, but we need to make sure we keep it going for 90 minutes. Last week, we only did it for 45 minutes and that’s never going to be enough in this League.

“Glentoran are a different side to last year and they will give us a tough night, but I feel we have another gear or two left in us – it’s about making sure we work through them and keep it going right until the final whistle.”