Rodney McAree hopes his players relish ‘full house and atmosphere’ at Seaview

The two clubs meet at Seaview in a mouth-watering quarter-final clash as a final four spot is up for grabs.

Crusaders' home form has been impeccable as Stephen Baxter's side have taken 40 points out of a possible 45 at Seaview in the Danske Bank Premiership.

With that in mind, McAree knows his side will have to produce the goods if they are to emerge victorious against the Cup holders in north Belfast.

"It's a great distraction and what an opportunity to go and play in the Irish Cup quarter-final at Crusaders," he said.

"It's going to be a full house and a great atmosphere. It's a game players should be looking forward to playing in.

"Hopefully, we have a little bit more luck on that occasion than what we were lacking against Glenavon.

"It will be a tough test against Crusaders home or away, we're fully aware of that.

"We will have a team on the pitch though that will be hopefully tough to beat too.

"Hopefully Ruaidhri Donnelly will be available again after taking a bit of a whack against Cliftonville and Marcus Kane will come back in again after suspension.

"We will assess the squad but hopefully we'll have as close to a full squad as possible."

The Glens suffered a blow in their quest to haul themselves back in the hunt for the Gibson Cup as they drew 0-0 with Glenavon at The Oval on Tuesday night.

McAree conceded that his side's chances of landing the main prize are 'very difficult' as Larne continue to lead the way.

"I don't know if you would call it a blip or not, we've lost one and drew one," he continued.

"It was frustrating against Glenavon, on another night you maybe come in two or three up at half time.

"You have to take your chances when you get them.

"We had a few half chances in the second half, a few things ricocheted around their box, on another day they end up in the back of the net.

"If we want to achieve anything at this club we have to show a bigger hunger and desire to win a game of football than what we did tonight.

"In the greater scheme of things though it's two results back-to-back where we're trying to fight our way back into a league.

"We're trying to get as many points to finish as high up the league as possible.

"So in the big picture it's two points that we've massively dropped in terms of seeing where our overall points is going to be come the end of the season.

"I think it's going to be very, very difficult to win the league.

"I look at the position Larne is in and I think it's going to be very difficult for anyone to catch them.

"All we can do is concentrate on our next league match whenever it comes around and try to get back on track with another three points.

"We have to pick up as many points as we can.

"We have 10 games left and we have a great opportunity to go and pick up as many points as we can out of those games."