Turning the tables

Paddy McLaughlin says nobody should be fooled by Glenavon’s League position.

Ahead of Cliftonville’s trip to Mourneview Park tomorrow, the Lurgan Blues sit 10th in the Danske Bank Premiership table – a standing which McLaughlin believes does not reflect the calibre of opposition his men will be up against this weekend.

“Glenavon have had a tough time of things recently but I don’t think anybody really reads too much into that,” he explains.

“They’ll be up and running soon enough, we just need to make sure it doesn’t happen against us and that we go down there and give the best possible account of ourselves.”

Tuesday night’s League Cup Quarter Final defeat at the hands of Linfield delivered a disappointing end to a hugely positive October, with the Reds winning their previous six outings during a month that saw them concede no goals on Premiership duty.

With November now dawned, the Manager is understandably keen for his side to commence another positive run.

“As always, it’s about looking after ourselves and preparing for a very difficult match,” he adds.

“We had a testing spell there with a number of midweek matches on top of the games we played on Saturdays, which meant training was broken up during the week, but we’re looking forward to getting ourselves back into a routine and hopefully that starts with a win against Glenavon.

“It won’t be easy, nothing gets handed to you in this League, so we have to be prepared to go and work as hard as we possibly can for it.”