Cliftonville boss Paddy McLaughlin says his team can’t afford to feel sorry for themselves, even though the queue for the treatment room is growing at an alarming rate.
Defensive pair Conor McDermott and Aaron Donnelly added to McLaughlin’s problems as they both limped out of Saturday’s heart-breaking defeat at Larne.
The makeshift Reds looked to have done enough to earn a point, until Josh Robinson headed the winner five minutes into injury time.
“We are down badly in numbers,” said McLaughlin, who was missing five regulars for the trip to Inver Park.
“Our squad is really being stretched at this moment in time.
“Aaron (Donnelly) returned to the team after injury, but he picked up a fresh injury. It’s tough on the player, but it’s also tough on the team as well.
“We’ve some good kids coming through the system, but we can’t necessarily fast-track them too soon.”
Ballymena boss David Jeffrey, inset, will ask his boys for the ‘same again’ after they ended a run of four straight home defeats by beating Warrenpoint Town at the Showgrounds.
The result also moved the Sky Blues out of the bottom two.
“We played tremendously well, but we’ll need the same against Cliiftonville,” said Jeffrey.
“We never get it easy at Solitude and this game will be no different.”
