Sports Direct Premiership: Dungannon Swifts v Cliftonville (Tuesday, 7.45pm)
After beating Mid Ulster clubs Portadown and Glenavon in his opening two games, Cliftonville boss Jim Magilton is seeking another Mid Ulster scalp at Solitude on Tuesday night against Dungannon Swifts .
Rory Hale will be out of action with ankle ligament problems for longer than was first thought while Rory Donnelly will likely miss the visit of the Co Tyrone side with a hamstring problem.
But the former Northern Ireland midfielder praised the versatility of his players as he aims for nine points from three games tonight.
“Of course”, said Magilton. “We want to win every game.
“That may not be possible but we will be ready tonight against a very good team, a well coached side that will come to Solitude and look forward to playing.
“We’ve got to make Solitude a very difficult place for every team to come to and we will be set and ready for Dungannon Swifts.
“Rory Hale will be out for months with his ankle ligament injury while Rory Donnelly came off on Saturday with a slight hamstring strain so we’ll see how he is today with a view to maybe playing on Saturday,
“But we have adaptability in our team. I thought Conor Pepper was outstanding on Saturday against Glenavon in the first half, then he went into wing-back because Shea Kearney had to come off.
It’s too early to say when Shea will be back. We had the option of Kris Lowe but Kris only trained last week.
“We can’t take chances. For us it’s about making sure that we get them fit and ready without taking any unnecessary risks.”
Joe Gormley and Shea Gordon grabbed the goals that put Glenavon to the sword at Mourneview Park at the weekend and Magilton was delighted with both.
With Ronan Hale, Ben Wilson and Sam Ashford all gone from Solitude, goals were a concern but the Reds boss is delighted with the starts both players have made to the new season.
“Joe’s movement is so good that it’s very hard to stop. He always gives midfielders that opportunity to play a forward pass and that’s important.
“The Shea Gordon I remember is the Shea Gordon who runs from midfield and gets goals, those are the demands we are going to put on him.
“It was a fantastic goal. He reacted brilliantly off a fantastic Ronan Doherty cross and it was a great finish and a great goal, and we are expecting more.”