Home stretch

Cliftonville Ladies boss John McGrady says he and his players are counting down the minutes until tonight’s homecoming.

After kicking their Danske Bank Women’s Premiership campaign off with a 4-0 victory on the road against Sion Swifts last week, the Reds play host to Derry City Women at Solitude this evening and are hungry to build on their opening night success.

“It was great to get off to a good start in the League campaign, especially away to a team that are always hard to play against but we are all excited to get back to Solitude,” explains McGrady.

“The players have been talking about it ever since the final whistle blew last Wednesday night. We all love Wednesday nights under the floodlights at Solitude. It’s been six months since we have had a competitive game at Solitude, it’s the best place in the world to be on a match day.”

While Cliftonville opened their season with three points, Derry fell to defeat at the hands of Crusaders Strikers but McGrady has warned against any underestimation as the Candystripes embark upon a quickfire return to north Belfast.

“We approach this game just as we approached last Wednesday’s,” he adds.

“It’s the biggest game of the season because it’s the next one.

“It’s the only game we can affect at that time and we have to treat each opponent with the utmost respect or we risk being complacent. The biggest expectations we have are the ones we place on ourselves to perform as best we can every time we pull on a red shirt.”

Cliftonville Ladies v Derry City Women
Solitude, 7.45pm
Adults: £2
Concessions: £1
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