Chris McKee expecting a tough battle against hometown side

Three points at Carrick Rangers this evening would lift the Blues back to the summit after they slipped to third place last week following the postponement of the game at the Loughview Leisure Arena.

Glentoran and Cliftonville took advantage of Linfield’s inactivity to leapfrog them in the table, now David Healy’s men have the chance to claw back their advantage with their title rivals both playing in the Irish Cup on Saturday.

Carrick-native McKee though knows it will be tough against Stuart King’s charges, but it’s one he’s looking forward to.

“I can’t wait,” he told the club website.

“I grew up in Carrickfergus and as a kid, I’d have watched Carrick Rangers as well as the Blues.

“I fully expect a tough game for us on Carrick’s pitch but it’s one we are looking forward to. Every game is crucial.”

Linfield’s last game came almost a fortnight ago as McKee played his part in a hard-fought 1-0 win over Portadown.

There was some debate over who actually scored the Blues’ winner at Windsor Park, but the on-loan star is claiming it.

“It was definitely my goal, I am claiming it,” he said.

“I was buzzing. As I’ve been on record saying before, growing up as a Linfield boy there’s nothing better and nothing I want more than to be scoring goals for this great club, so I was delighted to get the winner.

“Sometimes you need to grind out 1-0 wins, we did that against Portadown albeit a fairly comfortable win and it could be another important win, but yes, we want to be more ruthless when we have a lot of the ball.

“Every point matters and you hope at the end of the season you’ve done enough. For now, it’s one game at a time and full focus on all ten ‘cup finals’ when they come along.”