Friday 13th October
Kick Off 7.45pm
Tomorrow evening its fifth v seventh as Loughgall make their first Sports Direct Premiership visit to the Bet McLean Oval in sixteen years.
Loughgall have been exceeding all expectations in their first top flight campaign for 16 years, picking up 15 points from their first 11 games to sit in 7th place, well clear of the relegation places they were universally predicted to occupy before the campaign began.
While their defeat of Champions Larne at Lakeview Park has been the result that has grabbed the most headlines, it is the Villagers away form that is underpinning their impressive start; still unbeaten on the road after five games played with wins at Newry, Dungannon and Ballymena and 1-1 draws at both Crusaders and Cliftonville. Our own visit in August ended in a 1-0 Glens win with Daire O’Connor getting the only goal of the game.
This will be the first league meeting between the sides at the Oval since St Patrick’s Day 2007, when the Glens triumphed 4-0 in a season where Loughgall would go on to be relegated - with just one win recorded from 30 matches - and Glentoran would narrowly pip Cliftonville to second place on the final day. Glens goals that day came from Michael Halliday (2), Gary Hamilton and substitute Michael Ward.
There is strong competition in the forward department with Nathaniel Ferris and Andrew Hoey scoring four goals each so far and on loan Crusaders youngster Jay Boyd proving a shrewd signing, having chipped in with three strikes of his own to date. Former Glens Academy player Benji Magee has also made the step up to the Premiership very successfully. At the back goalkeeper Berraat Turker and his defence have conceded only 15 goals - by far the best record outside the current top five - and four of those came in their thrilling 4-3 home defeat to in-form Carrick Rangers last weekend. On their travels, they have conceded only four goals in total.
Warren Feeney: “ I was pleased to get the win against Ards on Tuesday night. We definitely deserved the win and I felt we should have won the game more convincingly if we’d been more ruthless in front of goal. We seem to be lacking a bit of confidence up front so it was good to see Rory come on after his injuries and take his goal so well. Getting through to a semi-final is always a good thing so I’m hoping the win will give the players the confidence boost they need. Unfortunately, we had to take Paddy off as a precaution but the physio has been working closely on him since Tuesday,
"I’m looking to build on Tuesday night’s win with another good performance and result against Loughgall tonight. A lot of people have said they’re surprised how well Loughgall have done so far, but I’m not surprised. They had to be good to win a very strong Championship last season and they have some very good players. We had to work hard for our win at their place in August so we’ll need to work just as hard to get what we want from this one.”
Remaining tickets for this game can be purchased HERE.
To reiterate the club’s recent statement, we strongly request that supporters respect the rights of the local residents by parking well away from housefronts in the immediate locality. There is plenty of available parking at the Holywood Arches Heath Centre.
