Blazing squad

Jim Magilton says Cliftonville must come out “all guns blazing” again when they host Portadown in tomorrow night’s Boyle Sports Premiership fixture at Solitude.

The Reds brought a recent losing streak to an end when they got the better of Glentoran on County Antrim Shield quarter-final duty on Tuesday night and, as pleased as he was with that outcome, Magilton acknowledges that his team have no time to waste in their bid to get back on track in the League.

Particularly encouraged by performances against Ballymena United and Coleraine that went without reward, the Manager wants the midweek success to be a building block for better times ahead.

“The League is our bread and butter,” he said.

“We know we have to knuckle down and start putting points on the board. There have been games where I’ve been critical recently but, at the same time, there are also games where I feel we’ve got less than we deserved and little things have gone against us.

“The hope was that if we could keep turning in the performances then we’d eventually get that wee bit of luck that you sometimes need, and that happened on Tuesday. Obviously we had chances to score a few more and win by more than 1-0 but, at the same time, you have to acknowledge that Glentoran had opportunities too and went close a few times. Thankfully, we were just on the right end of things that time.”

Tomorrow’s contest – which gets under way at 6pm – is the first of two back-to-back tussles with the Ports, who will have home advantage for Tuesday night’s BetMcLean Cup tie, and Magilton is not surprised to see the upturn in form that David Jeffrey’s men have enjoyed of late.

“They were always going to turn it round with their experienced players and quality they have within the group and their Manager,” he added.

“We’ve got Portadown at home on Saturday in a League game and we’ve got to go all guns blazing again. Our starts to games have been good and we’ve got to continue that bright start. You always want to build on positives and, after getting ourselves that win on Tuesday night, we’re obviously hungry to try and kick on from here.”

Cliftonville v Portadown
Saturday, October 17 (6pm)
Adults: £15
Concessions: £10
Tickets: General Sale
Members Tickets and Season Tickets valid