Intension to detail

Jim Magilton says Cliftonville cannot afford to bring the same lack of intensity from last week’s encounter with Glenavon into this evening’s showdown with Glentoran.

The Reds were punished for a limp display at Mourneview Park last time out and the Manager has warned that a repeat display at Solitude tonight will provide a similar outcome.

“We have to be better, it’s a simple as that,” he says.

“If we turn up and play like last weekend, we’ll lose the game – there is no question about that. We can’t play like we did last week, we all have to stand up and be counted throughout this game.”

Having welcomed the likes of Kris Lowe and Shea Gordon back into contention in recent weeks, Magilton has seen Luke Conlan, Axel Piesold, Arran Pettifer and Eric McWoods join long-term absentees Shaun Leppard, Ruaidhri Donnelly and Sean Stewart on the sidelines.

The broken nose Ryan Curran sustained against Glenavon means he remains a doubt for tonight’s tie but, despite all the enforced chopping and changing to his line-up during a hectic schedule, the boss insists such actions present opportunities for other players.

“When you are presented with a chance, you’ve got to take it,” he adds.

“At this level of football, we made changes because we felt we needed to freshen things up given our workload and given our games. That’s not an excuse – players want to play games, they don’t want to train. I hated training in comparison to games so there was no excuses last weekend.

“We felt that we could do better and we didn’t and that was credit to Glenavon for how they approached the game, and our lack of intensity to match that.”

Cliftonville v Glentoran
Matchday Partners
Match Sponsor: S3 Solutions
Matchball Sponsor: Sean McClean

Tickets
Adults: £15
Concessions: £10
Tickets: General Sale
Members Tickets and Season Tickets valid