Hi °C | Lo °C Chris Scannell is determined to put 'the worst week of his career' behind him and put a silver lining on the cloud which threatens to hang over Cliftonville's season.
The Reds have dropped from the top of the Irish Premier League to third in the last two weeks and last Saturday they slipped out of the Irish Cup with a semi-final defeat to Linfield.
On top of that manager Eddie Patterson had to contend with being sent a bullet in the post just days before the clash with the Blues.
That put the three successive defeats into perspective, but now, with football back on their minds, the Solitude outfit are ready to bounce back.
"We had a meeting on Tuesday night and talked about how we respond, how we pick ourselves up off the floor and that there is still plenty to play for this season," said Scannell.
"It is a long time since we suffered three defeats in a row and it was hard to take.
"I would say it was the worst week of my career. Certainly it doesn't get much more depressing than that.
"What made it worse was going into work, having people ask me about it and then having to go over it all again.
"I was totally gutted."
Since becoming boss at Solitude Patterson has had one simple aim, to make progress every season and emulate, if not better, the achievements of the previous campaign.
He has already done that in terms of the Irish Cup and there is still a chance to better last season's third place finish.
"We all know that we still have something to aim for," said Scannell.
"Second place is still up for grabs and it is in our own hands.
"We have two home matches, against Glenavon on Saturday and then Crusaders next Friday night. If we win those then it sets us up for going to the Oval to play Glentoran the following Friday.
"That has to be our focus now. If we win our four matches then we will finish second and it might even be enough for us to win the league if we get a couple of favours along the way.
"Although we were still in with a chance of winning the double a couple of weeks ago finishing second in the league would still be an achievement.
"It would be one place better than last season and then we can look to go one better again next season. There is only one way to do that which is win the league."
