Saturday 29th December 2018, Kick Off 3.00pm
On Saturday we welcome League Champions Crusaders for the second time this month in what is already our fourth meeting of the season, and the third meeting at the Oval. Not an easy game by any standards so the team will all need to lift their game after our dismal performance on Boxing Day.
In the first week of December we had a 2-2 league draw in a highly controversial match with Crusaders reduced to nine men and the Glens to ten by half time following red cards for Kyle Owens, Rory Patterson and John McGuigan in his last appearance for Glentoran. We twice came from behind with goals from John Herron and Robbie McDaid but despite our relative league positions were disappointed not to turn the man advantage into three points.
Since our draw at the Oval Crusaders have lost heavily to Linfield but had wins over Dungannon Swifts, Warrenpoint Town and a very convincing 5-1 away win over Cliftonville on Boxing Day so they come here on a much better run of form than we are. With our own abysmal record against the Crues in mind there is never a good time to play what is still the strongest squad in the league. But it is essential that we really lift our game both tomorrow and in next week’s Irish Cup match if we’re to salvage anything from a season in which we’ve been in virtual freefall since October. Nearly 3,000 Glentoran supporters attended the Big Two match on Boxing Day and were left disappointed. It’s fair to say the support is owed something after Wednesday so the players will be expected to deliver against the Crues.
Ronnie McFall: “The support we had against Linfield on Boxing Day was outstanding so I was embarrassed with the performance we served up. Apart from the first fifteen minutes of the second half, Linfield were the better side throughout and once they scored their second we never looked like coming back. I said after the match that the players have got to take pride in wearing the jerseys and show that they are good enough to wear the red, green and black. In the past few weeks too many of them have failed to show that. Most of them will be here till the end of the season so they’ve still got a chance to prove me and many of the supporters wrong. But time is running out so they need to start tomorrow and keep it going for all of our remaining matches.
For tomorrow we have Ross Redman and Calum Birney back but now we’re without Robbie McDaid who’s been playing very well for us so that’s a disappointment. Otherwise it’s a full squad. Curtis Allen will start with Robbie out. Robbie did very well up the middle on his own against Crusaders and Institute which is why we stuck with that on Boxing Day but I know Curtis will be determined to get straight back among the goals now he’s back in.
On the question of player recruitment for January, we are still working on that as we clearly need to strengthen in a number of areas, Darren Murray has come in to give us additional options upfront but John McGuigan has gone so we need to look at strengthening on the right flank where he mostly played this season. The Board is working hard to provide us with funds to do this so hopefully we can see some movement before too long. We’ll also be looking to free up wages by trading players out but realistically we can’t do that until we have the right players lined up to come in.”
The Board of Directors at Glentoran Football Club would again request that all supporters travelling to the Oval by private car consider the local residents when deciding where and how to park. Local parking is freely available at the Arches Health Centre.
