Crunch games for Blues and Whites

After losing top spot on Tuesday night Linfield can bounce back with a repeat of last Saturday's Irish Cup win over visitors Dungannon Swifts.

Lisburn Distillery cannot afford to lose any more ground on Institute if they are to haul themselves off the bottom of the table.

"Our season starts now," says Whites' boss Tommy Wright. "We need four wins from the next seven games. That is a tall order because we have only won four all season. The players could have walked away when news broke of the dire financial state the club found itself in, but they decided to stay. Now they have to show some fighting qualities and knuckle down and try and meet the challenge.

"We must start with nothing less than a home win over Ballymena on Saturday. We can point to the fact we have had Linfield, Glentoran and Cliftonville on the bounce, but now it is up to us to deliver.

"We have two games against Institute, but if we drift further away then they will become meaningless."

If Distillery finish bottom it is still not clear what will happen. It all depends what unfolds in the Championship. If Donegal Celtic are the only team with an ambition to join the Premier League and they don't win the title then it could mean a play-off with the Whites.

"We don't really know the situation yet," said acting chairman Bobby Hanna. "I will be asking at the next meeeting what the plans are in the event of different situations developing."

The company dealing with the CVA at Distillery are holding a meeting on Wednesday with first the creditors and then the members.

Linfield are still smarting from the 4-2 midweek canning by Coleraine.

"That was a real shock to the system because we had produced a series of excellent performances," said manager David Jeffrey.

"We got back on top and the target was to hold onto it. Like other teams this season we found it hard to do.

"We have Dungannon back with us this weekend and while we had a good cup win back to back games are never easy and we have to focus on getting back on track with three points."

On Tuesday night the Blues are at home to Crusaders in another top of the table clash.