Tuesday 23 October 2018, 7.45pm
On Tuesday evening we travel across the city to face Linfield for the second time in fifteen days, this time in the County Antrim Shield. Both teams go into the game after a defeat on Saturday, ourselves following the controversial refereeing performance against Glenavon and Linfield following a shock 2-1 defeat to Ards in Bangor.
Our last visit to Windsor was a memorable one as we beat our Big Two rivals 4-3 in the Europa League playoffs though goals from Dylan Davidson, Willie Garrett, John McGuigan and Curtis Allen. The team will be out to get revenge for our recent 1-0 home league defeat when most judges reckon we were unlucky not to take a point.
Ronnie McFall said on Monday: “I’ve already said what I think about the incidents that I believe cost us Saturday’s match against Glenavon but I want to pay credit to the players. Down to nine men before half time was a massive challenge but I can’t fault even one of the players who defended so well and who also created at least three very good chances later on in the match. They all showed incredible effort, hunger and desire and definitely didn’t deserve to lose the game. The lads who came in did very well in very difficult circumstances and – though there’s already a good mentality within the squad – the great team effort we saw on Saturday has really helped galvanise us further and we’ll use that to our advantage going forward.
For Tuesday night against Linfield we’ll definitely need to make a few changes. We’re appealing John Herron’s red card so he’ll be available while Marcus Kane is available again after his suspension. Having Moko is a boost but we’ll be without Calum Birney and Willie Garrett for their automatic suspension. We still have a doubt about Conor Pepper and we won’t risk him if he’s not 100% clear from his groin strain. I also won’t take any unnecessary chances with Robbie McDaid either. Robbie has been outstanding for us anytime he’s started but after two layoffs with his hamstring two tough games in four days might be a bit too much. We’ll decide that tomorrow. James McCarthy might also be a slight doubt as he got a Glenavon player’s studs on his instep on Saturday. He did very well for his first start for the first time. We’ll be adding Nigel Prentice, Jack Henderson and Mal Smith to the squad. They’ve all been doing well for the U20s so they’ve earned their chance to step into the first team squad.”
