Declan Caddell has been involved in enough north Belfast derbies to know the threat Joe Gormley poses to his Crusaders side. Cliftonville's record goal scorer has been a thorn in the side of most Irish League clubs down the years so much so that Caddell dubbed him 'Mr Reliable'.
Gormley has proven that is the case once again as he continues to find the net for the Reds when they need it the most after they lost several key frontmen in the summer with the departures of Sam Ashford, Ben Wilson and Ronan Hale.
With the Crues set to visit Solitude this evening Caddell knows they will have to be wary of Gormley's ability in front of goal. "They lost some top strikers in the summer and that is always difficult to replace, and anyone you bring in is always going to take a while to find their feet," he said.
"They went through that run of not scoring goals then up pops the goal machine Joe Gormley...Mr Reliable. He's playing well again, as is Ryan Curran...but they are full of quality. Rory Hale was probably a massive miss for them in the first couple of months, but he's back now and playing well.
"He's back to where he should be and is a threat for any team. He's arguably one of the best midfielders in the league on his day. They have quality right through their team. Both squads are full of quality players. Cliftonville are well coached, have a good squad and it's going to be a tough game.
"Form has been good but it goes out the window for games like this. We're playing well and so are Cliftonville. For me the north Belfast derby comes down to what team wants it more and I think you'll see that on Friday night."
Caddell already has one north Belfast derby under his belt as manager when the teams played out a 1-1 draw back in August. The Crues boss said it was the "mildest north Belfast derby" he had been part of but he was impressed with the performances of both sides on the day.
"Traditionally those games are fire and aggression, but that was probably the mildest north Belfast derby I've witnessed in a long time," he said. "Credit to both teams they were trying to get the ball down and play and we saw some good football and a draw was probably a fair result."
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