We Con do this

Luke Conlan says Cliftonville will take a positive approach into today’s UEFA Conference League showdown with Auda.

The Reds trail 2-1 at the halfway stage of the second qualifying round tie and, ahead of the second leg in Latvia, Conlan – who marked his debut with a goal against the Latvians at Solitude last week – insists that neither he nor any of his team-mates see the task at Skonto Stadium as mission impossible.

“I think we’ve taken a bit of confidence from the first game,” he explains.

“We’ve sized them up now, seen what they’re like and, even though the result wasn’t great on the night, we said to ourselves that we’re still in this tie. We’ve given ourselves a chance to come over here and do the job that we need to do.”

Though the sharpness levels associated with a team more than 30 games into their season helped give Auda the edge in the first leg, Conlan maintains that Cliftonville will not be overawed by the challenge that awaits in Riga as the Reds go in search of an historic European comeback.

“We’ll definitely be going into the game believing that we have what it takes to turn things around,” adds the former Morecambe and Fylde man.

“We’re obviously only getting started with our season, whereas they’re well into theirs and I think we’ve gained a bit of fitness from that first leg and we’ve come over there fresh and ready for the job.”

On last week’s outing, he concludes: “I was a bit nervous before it with it being my first European game but it was a good experience and I enjoyed my family and all being there to watch it too and it was great to get the goal as well.”

Auda v Cliftonville
(Skonto Stadium, 4pm; 6pm Latvian time)
Tickets: Here
Live Stream: Here