Cliftonville boss Paddy McLaughlin believes the fact Dungannon Swifts are still hunting their first points of the season makes them a dangerous animal at Solitude.
Dean Shiels’ men head to North Belfast on Saturday on the back of three straight defeats to Crusaders (1-5), Ballymena United (0-2) and Glentoran (0-1) midweek.
But while the Reds, who beat Ballymena United 2-1 on Tuesday night, will be firm favourites to make it four this afternoon, McLaughlin is taking nothing for granted.
Read more: Don Stirling: Irish League unites in tribute to 'Mr Ballymena United'
“I actually think they have been very hard done by so far,” he said. “A couple of calls went against them last weekend and a penalty beat them against Glentoran.
“Dean Shiels has done an excellent job there, he is one of the top coaches here and they’re a really good football side. We definitely won’t be underestimating them.
“They have been very unlucky with their results so far, so it’s important that we get prepared for a real tough game. It always is against them.”
The Reds, who know a win would propel them into the top four, head into today’s game on the back of back-to-back wins over Carrick Rangers and Ballymena United.
It took a rare goal from Luke Turner to secure a gutsy 2-1 midweek win over Ballymena who had cancelled out Ryan Curran’s opener with a superb strike from Jack Henderson.
“We controlled large parts of the first half and we had two or three great chances after we took the lead,” said McLaughlin. “We were just waiting on the second goal to go in and their goal came out of nowhere.
“We probably conceded against the run of play against Carrick and we did it again at Ballymena. But the boys remained composed and got their rewards in the end.”
SATURDAY'S GAMES
Cliftonville v Dungannon Swifts
Newry City v Crusaders
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