Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WARRENPOINT v CLIFTONVILLE RED THE RIOT ACT
Cliftonville boss Gray sick of ups & downs
CLIFTONVILLE boss Barry Gray has had his fill of inconsistency and is demanding a 90-minute performance tonight against Warrenpoint.
The Reds’ recent patchy form – three wins, three draws and four defeats since Christmas – has been perfectly captured in the past week.
Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Ballymena United in the Betmclean League Cup semis came on the heels of a 4-1 victory over Crusaders in the Irish Cup.
Ahead of tonight’s league trip to Milltown, Gray said: “When you are up and down like that, you look to see if you have the quality in your squad to do it consistently. We can’t fault the quality we have but we’re either nine out of 10 or three out of 10. We get very little in around the middle unfortunately.”
The fact Cliftonville made a game of it in the last 10 minutes at Ballymena on Saturday before Cathair Friel’s late stunner put the tie to bed irritated Gray.
He said: “In the last 10 – when there is nothing at stake, nothing to lose – the proper Cliftonville comes to the fore again. That can’t be physical, it’s nearly like a mental choice.
“Ballymena dug deep, knew what they were up against and knew what they had to play like. We didn’t dig deep and that’s why they won the game.
“It’s the same old cliched saying for me this season so far – one week good, one week not so good.”
Elsewhere tonight, third-placed Glenavon travel to Ards while Carrick Rangers host Glentoran.
Carrick, who bolstered their squad with eight January window signings, secured their first win in all competitions since October with an impressive 4-0 victory over Ards at the weekend.
Rangers boss Davy Mcalinden said: “We made a number of new signings and been able to work with them on the training ground and get them integrated quite quickly. We’ve added three new centre-forwards and I was pleased with our movement against Ards and how clinical we were in front of goal.”