Taking form

Paddy McLaughlin expects confidence to be high in both camps when Cliftonville take on Ballymena United tomorrow.

The Reds travel to The Showgrounds on the back of an eight-game unbeaten run that has included six victories, while the Sky Blues’ defeat of Carrick Rangers last time out was their third win in five outings, leading McLaughlin to anticipate an entertaining affair.

“I think both teams will be looking forward to it and will be looking to build on recent form,” he explains.

“We’ve done well over the last month or so, but so have Ballymena and they’ve had some good results in that time that we’re well aware of.

“We’re also aware that our record down there in general isn’t very good. We won there earlier in the season but that was our first win at The Showgrounds in I don’t know how long, so that just shows us how difficult a venue it has been for us and we don’t expect it to be any less difficult this time.

“They’ve got a top-drawer Manager in David Jeffrey and they’ll be well set-up, well drilled, hard to beat and confident after such a good win at Carrick, so we’ve got to be prepared to work really hard to get anything from the game.”

Ballymena United v Cliftonville
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