Chris Gallagher believes last season's thrilling title race will stand Cliftonville in good stead if they find themselves in another powder keg run-in.
The Reds ran Linfield to the wire in 2021/22, the battle for the Gibson Cup going down to the final game of the season before the Blues were finally crowned champions.
Linfield are bang in contention once again as they look to make it five Premiership wins on the bounce, but there are plenty of challengers ready to usurp David Healy's side.
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Cliftonville are one of a handful of sides fighting it out at the top end of the table. Saturday's 4-1 win over Portadown has moved Paddy McLaughlin's men up to third in the table - five points behind leaders Larne but with a game in hand.
"It is a really busy period coming up with a lot of games. We don't look too far ahead of ourselves and we just focus on the next game," Gallagher said.
"When we get into January then we will have a better look at where we are at and we can go from there.
"We know from last season that we can push to the very end. Last season was very competitive, and then during the split it turned into a two-horse race between Linfield and ourselves.
"It is still early doors right now but there are five or six teams who are still in the mix. The gap isn't that big from first to sixth.
"It will be good for the fans if it stays this competitive from now to the end of the season. And as players this is what you want.
"We learned a lot from last season. We can take a lot of positives from it, despite losing out to Linfield at the very end.
"There were certain games where we probably needed that experience. We will be hoping to be around the mix again this season when it comes to the business end of things."
Gallagher is enjoying his second season at Solitude after joining from Glentoran in the summer of 2021.
He made 28 league appearances for the Reds as they finished runners-up to Linfield by just one point.
This season he has featured in all but two of Cliftonville's 18 Premiership fixtures, becoming an ever-present feature in McLaughlin's midfield.
Gallagher said: "I have loved it coming to Cliftonville from the Oval. Last year was a very good year, personally and as a team.
"We came up just short in the league, but overall since I joined from Glentoran I have been loving my football. I couldn't say anything negative about it.
"I enjoyed last season, and this year we are ticking over nicely and just flying under the radar. And it's the old cliche, but we are taking it one game at a time."
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