Cliftonville v Larne

I
T goes without saying that
Portadown’s equaliser last
week was very tough to
take, especially as we have
conceded a number of late
goals that have cost us points
recently.
We’ve scored a few ourselves but
that comes as no comfort to
anyone when we’re left reflecting
on what might have been
when we look back at draws
against the Ports and Crusaders,
as well as the loss to Glentoran -
there’s five points that have all
been lost in the final minute.
It’s also something we experienced
the last time we played
Larne, so it’s an issue we need to
learn from and deal with.
Last week’s game also saw us
denied the latest in a long line of
what looked like stonewall penalty
kicks and, while there’s no
guarantee of scoring them or
how the game will pan out after
that, I think it’s fair to assume
we’d have enjoyed a better spell
of form had we been awarded
one against Portadown and
Glentoran, plus we’d a few
shouts against Glenavon in addition
to a goal which television
replays have since proved was
incorrectly ruled out for offside.
There’s no point in complaining
about these things, though -
firstly because nobody seems to
be listening and also because
you can’t rewind time to fix it.
“
It was nice not to have a midweek game
on Tuesday so that we could have a full week
of proper training.
”
4
You just have to hope the referee
spots these things on the day
and you’d like to think our luck
will turn sooner or later on that
front.
One thing we can control, however,
are our own performances.
Like everyone else, we’ve found
ourselves stuck in a bit of a hectic
schedule lately but it was nice
not to have a midweek game on
Tuesday so that we could have a
full week of proper training -
something none of our seven
January signings have experienced
since they came to the
Club.
The games are about to hit us
thick and fast again, so we’ll
need to make sure we step up to
meet every challenge,
starting today.
Larne are a hugely
talented side who
are quite rightly
being talked up as
potential Champions
and, as
they’ve shown
all season long,
are capable of
getting wins
against anyone
at any
venue.
Our players
will relish
today’s task
and, far
from feeling
sorry for
ourselves
over how
recent weeks
have gone, we
must go out
with a determination
to
work hard
for the
points.