David Jeffrey is currently polishing his 25th Manager of the Month Award from the Northern Ireland Football Writers’ Association but with a healthy dose of respect to the scribes, the Blues boss has bigger prizes on his mind.

While he is always proud to collect personal awards — an accurate reflection of how well his team have been performing — Jeffrey is desperate to land silverware after last season’s barren run.

For Linfield to go a campaign without a silver lining was unacceptable and no-one recognised that reality more clearly than the manager.

A transitional period is now well under way at Windsor Park and the fans are demanding trophies this season.

The fact that Linfield have raced into the first major final of the campaign — the County Antrim Shield — underlines how the appetite for glory has rarely been stronger at the Blues.

And after moving menacingly to the top of the Carling Premiership, few would bet against the Gibson Cup returning to the international venue.

Jeffrey, though, is still demanding improvement from his men, particularly when it comes to killing off rivals.

“In general I am happy with the way the team is playing and I am delighted to pick up another award from the football writers but I would like the team and our strikers to be more clinical,” said Jeffrey. “The quality of our play is good but teams will fight and battle against Linfield and it is important that we take chances.

“We have dominated games for long spells without killing teams off and if you want to win games you are going to have to score goals.

“Against Newry City in the Co-operative Insurance Cup we conceded a goal that we never should have let in. So while concentration levels have to be maintained at the back, we have to improve our finishing at the other end.”

Linfield take on the border boys again at the Showgrounds tomorrow — and the two sides will then square up in the second leg of the cup tie on Tuesday night at Windsor Park. As Crusaders discovered recently when they lost to Ballymena United at the Showgrounds, playing back-to-back games against sides is never an ideal scenario.

“That’s why we were happy to play Lisburn Distillery on Tuesday night and bring that game forward from the international friendly date,” added Jeffrey.

“I am quite pleased that those trilogy of games have been broken up because it can lead to problems for both sides. But I am hoping that we can keep creating excellent chances and then take them. We have injured players coming back which is helping us but you can never afford to switch off for a second in this league.”