Paddy sizes up the challenge

Paddy McLaughlin says fixtures such as tomorrow’s Danske Bank Premiership clash with Coleraine are the kind of occasions that everyone involved in football relishes.

Cliftonville travel to The Showgrounds bidding to bounce back from last week’s narrow defeat to Linfield and come up against a Bannsiders outfit that has dropped just two points – and conceded only a single goal – on home turf this season but McLaughlin says he and his players are looking forward to meeting the challenge head on.

“It’s a huge game, with both clubs sitting at the top of the table,” he said.

“That’s why we are in this game – to play in these big matches and to be challenging at the top end of the division.

“The bigger the game, the better as far as we are concerned. We just don’t want to be another team making up the numbers in this League.

“It was a huge game against Linfield last week and this will be a fixture of equal proportions. The players have put in an enormous amount of hark work and they have shown great quality in all our games.

“They deserve all the credit,  they have worked so hard to get where they are, so we are looking forward to the game, we’ll embrace the challenge.

“Coleraine is a tough place to go. They are a really good side, especially at home and have a really strong record at The Showgrounds.

“It’s important we go there focused and try to break what they have. They have goals in them, and they have a good goals-against record. We have got to go there with a mindset of being the team that breaks that.”

Coleraine v Cliftonville
Saturday, November 27
Tickets: Click here