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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Sport
Gareth Fullerton

How ex-Cliftonville boss Tommy Breslin's tactics against Celtic almost backfired in 2013

Cliftonville forward Stephen Garrett has enjoyed many highs during his career.

Back-to-back Irish Premiership titles rank highly, as do the numerous cup wins the Reds tasted over the years.

But one memory stands our for the former Linfield and Newry City man.

It came in the summer of 2013 when Cliftonville were drawn against the mighty Glasgow Celtic in the Champions League qualifiers.

Additional seating was installed at Solitude for the home leg which Celtic won 3-0, before the Irish League side travelled to Parkhead where the Hoops added another two goals to complete a 5-0 aggregate success.

One thing Garrett remembers fondly about the first leg in North Belfast was manager Tommy Breslin's team talk, and the tactics the legendary manager had for Celtic star Kris Commons.

"The best story from that night was Tommy's team talk," Garrett told this week's That's What I Call Football podcast .

"He was saying, "Kris Commons is all left foot, show him onto the right foot and you've done your job."

"Anyway, about two minutes in, Commons cuts in from the left and lets fly from 30 yards with his right boot, and I think the bar at Solitude is still shaking.

"We couldn't believe it."

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Garrett revealed the toughest opponent he has ever faced in his career has been Hoops skipper Scott Brown, just one of the stars of Celtic's team during that time.

"That was as good a Celtic team as there has been in recent times," Garrett added.

"They had players like Scott Brown, Gary Hooper, Georgios Samaras, Mikael Lustig, the goalkeeper Fraser Forster who ended up going to Southampton and played for England.. It was a cracking team.

"We got additional seating at Solitude. There were about 6-7,000 fans at the home game. And then 40,000 at Celtic Park.

"I should have scored in one of the legs. I had a chance just after half-time but didn't catch it. That would have been my claim to fame.

"But it is a great memory for us. We have the DVDs at home. It is something to show the kids and grandkids for years to come."

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