Saturday 1st April
Kick Off 3.00pm
On Saturday we meet Portadown in our final game before the Danske Bank Premiership split.
While this game will be a fourth meeting of the sides in all competitions this campaign, it will be the first of them to take place at the Oval.
Since the Irish Cup clash at Shamrock Park at the beginning of February, Portadown have played 7 league fixtures and managed to accrue 11 points from them; a respectable achievement when you consider they picked up only 5 points from their opening 25 games. With Niall Currie having now had some time to stamp his authority on the squad, the Ports have given themselves an outside chance of avoiding relegation; narrowing the gap on both Dungannon and Newry to 7 points as they prepare to embark on the post-split fixtures from next weekend.
Having overseen a huge turnover of players in the January window - with 12 new arrivals and 16 departures - Currie’s moves to bolster his forward options have proven successful, with attacking midfielder Paul McElroy netting 5 goals in the last 5 games and striker Alan O’Sullivan contributing 3 over the same period. At the other end, Manchester United loanee Ondrej Mastny has established himself as number one goalkeeper. Former Glentoran midfielder Eoghan McCawl missed the 2-2 draw with Crusaders at Shamrock Park but they were boosted by the return of Luke Wilson to step into his place. Cathair Friel, O’Sullivan and Benny Igiehon will fight it out for the main forward position.
Rodney McAree: “Carrick was a big improvement on the Ballymena game. We ultimately ran out comfortable winners but I thought we started in a dull and lethargic manner. Once we changed shape at half time we started getting the ball forward quicker and the goals started to come. It was a good selection of goals. We know what a good finisher Niall is and also it was nice to be able to get Luke forward for a set piece and get his first of the season. Also Terry took his goal very well. He’s been playing exceptionally well, is a very mature lad for his age and as I’ve said before, once he adds more regular goals to his game he’ll be an even more outstanding player. The other pleasing aspect of the game was how well Marcus and Luke performed together in the centre of defence. I thought we looked very secure the whole game.
Saturday’s last pre-split game will be another challenge. Portadown are fighting hard to save their place in the Premiership and there’s no doubt they’ve had a revival since Niall came in. We’ll take the Ports very seriously as opposition but we know the importance of the three points to send us into the split in the best possible position so the realistic expectation is to out to play for and achieve the win. The only injury worry for this one is Aidan, who’s still struggling with the injury he picked up against Ballymena”.
