Cliftonville boss Eddie Patterson expects the real Reds to step up to the plate now after watching his side demolish a lacklustre Glentoran team 3-0 in the Co Antrim Shield semi-final at Windsor Park last night.

With key players such as Barry Johnston and Francis Murphy back in a red shirt and on form, the Solitude men were rampant against a Glens side who were minus most of their big name players as Alan McDonald put the emphasis on Saturday's Big two clash with table -toppers Linfield at the Oval.

But Cliftonville showed no mercy on the east Belfast kids and with goals from Johnston, an own goal from Sean Ward and a third by Chris Scannell, they sent out a message of intent that they are now once again nearing their best.

“We have players coming back into the side with varying degrees of fitness and I think it's starting to show in our play,” said Patterson. “We have had four or five key players out every week for most of the season but the likes of Francis Murphy and Barry Johnston are slowly coming back and it is great for us.

“I felt on Saturday (in the defeat to Glenavon) we got the performance but not the result. Tonight we got the performance and the result. I thought Saturday would prove to be a catalyst for our season and that turned out to be the case.

“We are still missing a few players and hopefully they will be back soon and once we have our full squad back then I will expect to see the tide turning in our favour again.”

Critics will suggest that the opposition wasn't up to much on the night – the youngsters were far from setting the world alight – but Patterson poured praise on Glentoran's players.

“It was a very young side but let's not forget it was a young side which hammered Linfield in the Setanta Cup a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “I thought they gave us a real battle, they matched us for fitness and we had to work very hard against them.”