Danske Bank Irish Premiership: Cliftonville v Coleraine (today, Solitude, 3pm)
IF Paddy McLaughlin’s thoughts are anything to go, there’s not a more motivated changing room in local football than Cliftonville’s.
The popular Derryman, who is celebrating three years in the Reds hot-seat this month, says his players “absolutely love” the underdog tag and heaped praise on them for fighting against all the odds to stay in the title race.
With Belfast’s ‘Big Two’ – Linfield and Glentoran - moving ominously forward to claim the top two berths in the Irish Premiership, the north Belfast men are the only part-time club in the top five right now.
“We absolutely love the underdog tag, it suits us well,” said McLaughlin ahead of today’s visit of sixth-placed Coleraine.
“We love it when people write us off and try to knock us down. Any time we’ve hit a bump along the way people are quick to come out and criticise us but I think the boys thrive on that and we use that as motivation.
“There were even some people saying we wouldn’t finish in the top six this year. That’s fuel to the fire in proving people wrong. I love it. The boys love it. And we’ll keep coming back.
“You’ve got to remember they have so much going against them – but they keep come fighting their way through things. They’ve been superb.”
With Linfield, Glentoran and Larne now full-time and Crusaders adopting a hybrid version, the Reds are defying the odds by still being in with a shout of the Gibson Cup with a significantly smaller budget than their rivals.
“I think when you look at the finance and the resources at Glentoran and Linfield they are fighting it out for the title,” McLaughlin said.
“We’re doing brilliantly to be still in touch at this stage of the season. You can’t underestimate the effort that has been made by our players to stay in touch. And we’ll continue to do that.
“Everybody understands there are four or five full-time teams in the league and it’s going to be a big ask for the players to keep in touch and compete.
“But they’ve done that and that’s been a couple of years’ work, it just hasn’t been this season. The mentality of our boys, how they prepare, how they recover – all that had to change – and you can see that now.
“We have a fully fit squad at this stage of the season which is unheard of at a part-time level so deep into the season. Boys are working during the day and they’re being fired into training and fired into intense games - so all credit to them and our physios, they’ve been fantastic.”
He added: “A lot of the work the players do goes unnoticed, but the staff and the people around the club see it and the fans are seeing the benefit of how hard they’ve worked over the course of the season.”
Sitting in third spot, today’s league clash with Coleraine is the first of an intriguing trilogy with the Bannsiders. They host them again in the Irish Cup quarter-finals on March 5 before the pair face-off in the League Cup final at Windsor Park on Sunday March 13.
After drawing 2-2 with both Linfield and Ballymena United, the Reds bounced back to winning ways to eke out hard-earned back-to-back wins over Carrick Rangers in the Irish Cup and the Premiership, respectively.
While McLaughlin’s side have been lauded for their expansive play and possession game, winning ugly in their last two fixtures pleased him as much as any other results this year.
“I think the boys enjoy getting the ball down and entertaining. But the be-all and end-all is results – we’re here to get results. Sometimes you have to roll your sleeves up and do the ugly side of it, and I think we’ve learned that this year.
“We did that last Saturday and Tuesday because the conditions were atrocious for both sets of players. We can mix our styles and the players are flexible in how they approach games.”
Today's other Irish Premiership fixtures (3pm): Ballymena United v Dungannon Swifts, Glenavon v Portadown, Larne v Crusaders, Warrenpoint Town v Carrick Rangers
