Tuesday 9th November
7.45pm Kick Off
Tomorrow night at Coleraine Showgrounds we continue our quest to win our first Bet McLean League Cup since 2009-10, and our eighth overall.
The sides last met in this competition at the Third Round stage in October 2019. That night at the Coleraine Showgrounds, Glentoran suffered a major setback when young defender James McCarthy was dismissed for a late challenge in the 27th minute. Although the game remained level for almost an hour, a 6-minute spell where Jamie Glackin opened the scoring and Ben Doherty added a penalty all but secured the home side’s progress into the next round. The Glens did pull a goal back with 18 minutes to go through Navid Nasseri but couldn’t find another to force extra time. The following February, Coleraine would go on to win the Competition as they defeated Crusaders 2-1 in the Final at the National Stadium.
Our last League Cup win over the Bannsiders was the previous October at the Oval. A thrilling 3-3 draw after extra time (Curtis Allen and Jamie McGonigle netting a brace for each side) saw the game go to penalty kicks, where Glentoran triumphed 3-2 and progressed to the Quarter Final, where unfortunately we were to exit at the hands of Crusaders.
Encouragingly for Glentoran, Jay Donnelly is the only player to score against Coleraine in their last eight matches, having scored twice in our recent 2-2 draw at the Oval.
Mick McDermott: “What I would say about Saturday’s win was that the three points were the important thing, and we got them. We were excellent in the first half and should have been out of sight, even in that wind. To Warrenpoint’s credit, they came at us in the second half, had a lot of territory and put us under a bit of pressure. I didn’t feel we dealt with their high line well enough, but we saw out the game well, which is what’s needed in this league and something we failed to do a couple of times recently at the Bet McLean Oval. So I’ll take the positive from that, particularly with Linfield and Coleraine dropping points. That sort of thing will happen to every team this season.
Coleraine on Tuesday night will be the first time we’ll have played on their new surface. Although Coleraine are a good side – fit, physical and some good players who are very well coached – I always enjoy playing against them and we’ve had some very good games up there since I’ve been here. So we’re looking forward to going up there. They’ve been getting great crowds and haven’t been conceding, so we’ll need to work hard and be at our best. The last game at our place was a very even game that I thought we should have seen out. I expect another tough game on Tuesday night but we’re up for it with a trophy up for grabs.”
Remember, tickets for this game can be purchased HERE on the Coleraine website.
Traffic Information:
Anyone driving to Coleraine for the match might want to allow some extra time as the roundabout at Ballymoney Rugby Club will be closed from 6.30. Also, roadworks have the road between Ballymena and Dunloy down to one lane and 40mph.
