CLIFTONVILLE captain Rory Hale is urging his team-mates to focus on themselves and grind out results as they return to the action for the first time since their County Antrim Shield defeat to Carrick Rangers.
The Reds are on the road on Saturday for the first of back-to-back meetings with basement side Glenavon at the weekend (3pm kick-off at Mourneview Park) before they meet a week later in the sixth round of the Irish Cup.
Having already faced Glentoran and Carrick back-to-back this season, Hale admits it can be quite difficult, though insists the main thing is that the Solitude side can return to winning ways in the league for the first time since beating Glenavon in December.
“We’re not in a good run of form, I think our last league win came against Glenavon,” Hale said. “We just have to worry about ourselves at the minute. We need to get back to playing some good football and grinding out results.
“It’s difficult playing teams back-to-back. It’s happened to us a couple of times this season with Glentoran, Carrick and now Glenavon, it’s a bit frustrating.”
Hale believes that the target – given the squad depth – should be cementing themselves as a top six club.
“It’s just one of those things, you will set up how you set up, you’ll analyse the opposition but it’s just about grinding out results at the end of the day now.
“We need to come away with a couple of good results, cement ourselves in the top six and then go on a good run in the Irish Cup”.
Hale saw the positives of their weekend trip to Glentoran falling victim to the weather, with himself and other team-mates pushing to get back to fitness after illness and injuries.
“It can be the best of both worlds, sometimes after defeat you just can’t wait for the next game to put things right and wait for the next game to try and get a better performance or get out of the rut,” he admitted.
“If you look at the positives, we’ve had another ten days of recovery in the legs. The boys have played lots, and lots of games over the last few weeks – Saturday-Tuesdays – and especially a tough Christmas period.
“We’ve lost some key players, and boys have probably had to play a lot more than they should. Lads like myself haven’t probably played as much in the last few weeks with illness and injuries. It was probably a good little break to try and get boys back to fitness.”
The downside though is the Reds face seven fixtures and three midweek games in February, with the skipper feeling that they have lost momentum due to the postponements throughout the campaign.
“It’s going to be mental and it’s just unfortunate that it keeps happening to us. I think we were already three or four games behind some of the teams trying to catch up with us in the league.
“We can’t afford any more games being called off, it is stretching the squad as it is. It’s quite difficult to get a run of momentum as well.
“You might get a bad result or a good result and then you’re waiting for the next game a week later and it gets called off, then you’re waiting another week. It’s just frustrating at the minute.”
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Rory Hale believes the fixture congestion is tough for the Reds
With the transfer window ticking to its conclusion, Hale is hopeful to see new faces come in the door to supplement the squad following Odhran Casey and Jack Keaney’s recent departures and the loss of Eric McWoods through injury.
“We need bodies in the door, there is no question about it,” Hale insists.
“We’ve lost arguably our best player of the season and then our second best player of the season in the same window – it would probably dampen Man City nevermind Cliftonville.
“It’s quite difficult for us now to get that level of quality back in. Kyle [McClelland] has been in the league for a couple of seasons now. Hopefully he can come in and hit the ground running and steady the ship a bit.”
Cliftonville face the away trip to face Lurgan side Glenavon on Saturday, and after almost two weeks’ of rest, the Reds will look to reignite their positive form once again.