IT may be a dead rubber in terms of the destination of the Gibson Cup, but with North Belfast bragging rights up for grabs, Crusaders and Cliftonville will still be highly motivated when they meet at Seaview this evening (7.45pm).

The Reds have won all three derbies so far this season, so will be aiming for the sweep, while Crusaders will be all out to turn the tables.

Crusaders are still eyeing a fourth-place finish to command home advantage in the European playoffs and will keep themselves in that position with a win this evening as Glentoran, who host Larne, sit just one behind.

“Fourth place is now our goal over the next three games,” said Crues' boss Stephen Baxter who takes charge of his side in a derby for the last time before stepping down at the end of the season.

“It’s important, if we can, to gain home advantage for the end-of-season European play-offs."

The Seaview side may be without Jude Winchester who limped off in the 1-1 draw against Linfield on Friday, but Adam Lecky is back in contention, while Paul Heatley is also in the frame as he returns from injury.

As for Cliftonville, they will be without Ronan Hale who was sent off in their humiliating 8-1 thrashing at Larne on Saturday but assistant manager Gerard Lyttle has called on his players to restore pride into the jersey. 

“We shouldn’t need any motivation to put that shirt on for Cliftonville,” he insists. 

“It is something that we pride ourselves in. First and foremost, when you put that shirt on you are working for the club and representing the club. You come for hard work - that is a given and going into any game, regardless of who it is against. That is the message going into Tuesday’s game is the same. 

“We’ll have to regroup. It has been a long season for the boys too. They’ve worked really hard. We’re competing with full time clubs and today we just looked a little bit lethargic. Hopefully now we can recover and get going again and we’ll be prepared for Crusaders.”
 
Lyttle revealed that the message from the management team is to park conversations about the Irish Cup final until their league campaign is complete and feels that may have had an impact on their last two showings.  

“It’s the message we’ve set right across the whole team, forget about cup finals,” Lyttle confirmed.

“Again, maybe it a sense of players not wanting to get hurt or risk anything. We didn’t do the dirty work (against Larne). We didn’t do the out of possession work and allowed players to run off us; we didn’t defend when we should have defended and with that- against any good team, you are going to get punished."