IF you were to split Cliftonville’s league season perfectly down the middle, you’d find two very differing fragments.
The first eight games under new manager Barry Gray were a struggle with the side picking up just 10 points. The eights games since, however, has seen the Reds collect 21 points from a possible 24 with Coleraine the only side to take anything off the Solitude outfit.
Saturday’s 1-0 win away to Ards – settled by Jay Donnelly’s 24th minute strike – made it four wins on the bounce with 13 goals scored without reply across those fixtures.
For assistant Harry Fay, the fact that they are shining in both attack and defence is of massive importance.
“We’re scoring goals and we’re keeping clean sheets and that’s a good recipe,” he said.
“Confidence is everything in football and we are playing with a wee bit of a swagger at the moment.
“The boys are working extremely hard too, that has to be said, and they have bought into what we have tried to achieve.”
The Reds can now looked forward to three home games in their next four fixtures, and with their away game in Warrenpoint, they’ll be hoping to carry their good form into the crucial Christmas period.
“We have a big month coming up next month,” said Fay.
“That’s not taking away from the rest of our games this month, but there are a lot of big fixtures coming up. We’ll know where we are in five or six weeks.”
Saturday’s win, coupled with Coleraine suffering their first loss of the season – a 2-1 defeat to Linfield – has led to the top of the table bunching up with eight points separating the top five teams.
Cliftonville’s winning streak has taken them up to fourth, and Fay said that the quality in the top half of the table is exceptional this season.
“If you lose form you wouldn’t be long dropping down,” he said.
“The standard is very high, everyone in the top five is playing really well and it’s a breath of fresh air for the league.
“It’s rare that there are five teams so close within each other in that race for the title or Europe.”
Meanwhile, Tomas Cosgrove will see a bone specialist today about a foot injury while Liam Bagnall returned to action in Saturday’s win.
“You’re not going to do anything without a squad and hopefully we get good news about Tomas,” Fay added.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Glenavon recorded a 3-0 win away to Ballinamallard United and Crusaders kept in touch at the top with a 7-1 trouncing of Carrick Rangers at Seaview.
For the sixth time this season, Warrenpoint Town lost a league game by a single goal as they missed a host of chances, including a Darren Murray penalty, in a 3-2 home defeat to Glentoran while Ballymena United recorded a 2-1 win over Dungannon Swifts with Gary Thompson scoring the winner with just two minutes remaining.
