Tonight’s Sports Direct Premiership showdown between Crusaders and Larne at Seaview will be a test of endurance, according to both managers.
Crues boss Declan Caddell is preparing for seven games in January at a time when his squad is down to the bare bones, while Larne manager Gary Haveron is licking his wounds after being knocked out of the Irish Cup on Saturday.
The 1-0 defeat to Limavady United came after extra-time and with eight fixtures to play this month, Haveron admits he could have done without playing 120 minutes on Saturday.
Crusaders cantered to a 3-0 win over Knockbreda in the cup on Saturday and Caddell says is hopeful to get some of his injured players back soon ahead of a congested month.
“We have Larne tonight, then we have Dungannon on Saturday, then it’s the League Cup semi-final, Coleraine and Portadown then we finish the month against Linfield”, said Caddell.
“That’s seven games in January so it’s tough.
“To be fair to the players who are playing week in, week out, they’re continually going to the well, continually working for you.
“I’m probably flogging them a wee bit, I’d like to give them a rest but because of the injuries we have I can’t really afford to.
“We should see some of the injured players return in the next week or so, which will give us a healthier squad.
“Myself and the staff will do our homework and we’ll put a plan together for tonight.
“You want that little bit extra against Larne, Glentoran, Linfield, Cliftonville, all the so-called bigger teams, you need that wee bit extra.
“But in terms of preparation it’s always the same, it doesn’t matter if it’s Larne or Knockbreda, we prepare the same way for every game.”
Haveron admitted his team got what they deserved against Limavady on Saturday and called for his players to get a result tonight for the supporters.
“We talked about priorities a couple of weeks ago, the Irish Cup was a priority and we let it slip through our hands.
“You have to show the right mentality, you can’t switch it on and off when it suits.
“How do you go and get a win against Gent and back it up with a performance like Saturday’s? It’s not acceptable.
“We have to get it right and we were in yesterday morning preparing for the Crusaders game.
“We’ll look at Saturday, go through it with the players and see what we didn’t do enough of on Saturday.
“We’ve drawn a line under it and our focus is now on tonight’s game.
“The league is massive now and we could have done without extra-time on Saturday.
“But, it is what it is, we’ve got to start taking it one game at a time again and put the focus into getting the next result.
“We owe it to the fans to run ourselves into the ground to make sure we come away with a positive result.”
