Linfield defender Mark Stafford says that they are where they want to be at this stage of the season, with the Blues five points clear at the top – but he stresses that there is still a long way to go in the title race, and he expects plenty of twists before the title is decided.

The Blues enjoyed a good week with victory over Cliftonville on Saturday, followed by a win over Warrenpoint on Tuesday night, to leave them five ahead of Coleraine although they have played a game more.

“We are where we want to be,” said Stafford. “Obviously, there are a few results that didn’t go our way, but we are five points clear at the minute although Coleraine have a game in hand. All we can do is look after ourselves and if we keep doing that then we won’t be far away at the end of May.”

It has been a season of ups and downs for teams in the league, and Stafford feels that is due to the situation surrounding Covid and no supporters in the grounds.

“We haven’t really hit our form this year, in regards to putting a string of results together. We’ve had some reasonably good results, but then we just can’t seem to kick on, and we have a defeat and it sets us back a bit, and we have to regroup and go again.

“This year, with the whole Covid and no supporters, it is topsy-turvy and we just haven’t had that consistency that we would like, but we are are where we want to be in regards the position in the table,” he said.

Defeat to rivals Glentoran recently was a setback but Linfield bounced back well with back-to-back wins, and Stafford is hoping that they can push on from here.

“Obviously, the two Glens defeats were two setbacks, but we had a good result against Cliftonville on Saturday and we followed it up on Tuesday night against Warrenpoint.

“We have a home game now against Dungannon Swifts, so it is another opportunity for us to try and get another three points.”

Stafford impressed in the win over the Reds last Saturday, but an ongoing knee problem means that he cannot play more than one game a week, which is a source of frustrating for him.

“It is just frustrating that I can’t play two games in a week; I can only really play Saturday and Saturday, so that hinders me to try and get a run of games.

“If I play on a Saturday, the knee is sore until Monday or Tuesday, and then I would be all right to train on a Thursday and go into a game on the Saturday in a good enough shape.

Treatment

“I go up on a Monday and I get treatment while the boys train, and then I train again on a Thursday.

“The Manager wants me to remain fit and available for him, so that’s why he doesn’t play me twice in a week as that would be me out for a week, and the way it is, that could be three games that you miss.

“He just plays me as he needs me, and wants me fit for upcoming games. That’s the understanding that we have, and it works well at the minute,” explained Stafford.

And he says that he is happy with his performances when he is on the pitch.

“I’m in reasonably good form. When I’ve been asked to come in and do a job for the Manager, I’ve done all right, so I’m happy enough with my own performances so far.

“Like everybody, there is still room for improvement in aspects of the game, but I’m pleased with how I’ve been playing,” he said.

The league still plan to play the full 38-game programme with ten games to go to the split before five games in the split. Stafford felt it was unlikely they could do that a couple of months ago, but they now appear to be on target to play the full season.

“I didn’t think it would have been possible after we were getting back into it after the break. I thought there might be the odd case here and there that would disrupt things, but it doesn’t seem to be the case so far.

“Everybody is staying clear of it, and long may that continue, but you can see the injuries creeping into squads with boys playing a lot of games with not much recovery time.

“But we are lucky – there are a lot of sports not happening at the minute because of Covid, so as tough as it is at the minute, at least we have it.”

And he is expecting an exciting finish to the league with a number of clubs possibly challenging Linfield for the title.

“There are certain teams in the top end of the table who are a wee bit out of form, but their form will turn and it will tighten everything up.

“We have to play all the top teams again a couple of times too, so they are all six-pointers, and because you are playing so many games the thing can turn around inside a couple of weeks.

“There is a long way to go yet and there is a lot of work to do, but it should be an exciting race.”