Set in emotion

Jim Magilton says that his players’ ability to control their emotions during the heat of a North Belfast Derby battle will be crucial to Cliftonville’s prospects when they meet Crusaders in tomorrow’s Clearer Water Irish Cup quarter-final clash.

The Reds travel to Seaview for the latest stage of their defence of the trophy and Magilton is well aware of the size of the challenge his side face.

“We know what we’re going into and we will be prepared for that – mentally and physically, we’ll be ready for the occasion,” he says.

“It’s a huge game, it’s a quarter-final of an Irish Cup and we’re desperately going to try and defend that.

“We want to play in another Final and Crusaders are the next team that stand in our way. They’re an outstanding team at home, they don’t lose many games there, so we’ve got to present ourselves.

“It’s a one-off game, a one-off occasion and we will be ready and looking forward to it.”

On the importance of not becoming preoccupied by the occasion, he explains: “The experienced players are able to come and calm nerves and be able to understand the emotion in the game.

“We all get caught up in the emotion standing on sidelines or being a fan, but understanding the emotion in a football match comes down to great experience from players that have been through that.

“Last Friday’s win against Glentoran was huge for us in terms of our confidence and it’s given us a spring in our step. The previous Saturday wasn’t acceptable for us. We let a lot of people down but hopefully we righted a few wrongs last week.”