Monday 28th March
7.45pm Kick Off
Tomorrow night we welcome Carrick Rangers for their first and only visit of the season to the Bet McLean Oval for our final Dansk Bank Premiership match before the split.
With a bright start to the DBP season under new manager Stuart King having long since faded, Carrick Rangers find themselves looking nervously over their shoulders in tenth place with Portadown, currently occupying the relegation play off place directly below them, having put together an improved run of form that has narrowed the gap to just one point as we approach the split.
In their last twenty-seven league games, Rangers have won just three times: incredibly all those coming against Ballymena United! Indeed, Carrick are on a run of nine games without a win since securing the last of those wins over the Braidmen on January 25th and could only manage a draw at home to East Antrim rivals Larne last Friday despite the visitors playing 81 minutes with ten men and ending the game reduced to nine.
Our previous two meetings this season were both at the Loughview Leisure Arena, with Glentoran having secured a 2-0 win at the end of October, thanks to goals in each half from Jay Donnelly and Conor McMenamin, and went one better in mid-December when a first goal for the club for Shay McCartan put the seal on a comfortable 3-0 victory following a double salvo for Donnelly. In the two fixtures played at the Oval last season, Glentoran were 6-0 and 2-0 winners, with Robbie McDaid bagging a hat trick in the former and a decisive second goal in the latter.
Scoring goals has been Rangers big problem this season, with only Portadown and Warrenpoint having managed fewer than their 31 in 32 games so far. Their top scorer at present is Jordan Gibson (with only 6) and he has missed the previous two matches after being sent off in the 2-2 home draw with Portadown, while defender Lee McNulty remains sidelined by the serious injury he picked up early in the season at Glenavon. The ‘gers team will feature a number of former Glentoran players; with goalkeeper Aaron Hogg and midfielders Steven Gordon and Kyle Cherry having started against Larne and Corey McMullan introduced as a second half substitute.
Mick McDermott: “I wasn’t happy with either our performance or the result at Ballymena last week. In the first half in particular, we were poor and created very few chances. Then it took us to concede a very poor goal at the start of the second half for us to wake up and start playing. But even when we got the equaliser through Jay’s penalty we didn’t kick on so while I’m disappointed only to come away with a point that’s as much as we could expect from a performance like that. We created some decent chances in the second half, but they defended well and threw themselves at the ball very effectively.
Next up we welcome Stuart King and Carrick Rangers. I know Carrick are working hard to avoid a relegation playoff, but they had a very good draw with Larne last week and have close defeats to Linfield, Cliftonville and Crusaders in the past month, so we won’t be underestimating them. They certainly have a number of very good players in their squad, so the players and coaching staff won’t be underestimating them.
We have a full squad to choose from apart from the long-term absentees. It was good to see Marcus back in contention last week and also it was a great boost for Paddy McClean to win his appeal against his extra suspension during the week. Everyone will have a part to play between now and the end of the season so it’s great to have everyone fit and up for the challenge.
Once we get past this one, we’re into the post playoff matches. We know we’re up against good teams in the top half and we’ll have five very tough games. Dropping points recently has obviously made things more difficult for us, but there will be plenty of twists and turns over the next few weeks with our rivals at the top of the table also having difficult games both home and away. Fans can be assured we won’t shirk any of the challenges ahead. We’ll go into our remaining six games and try to win all of them. We now have to pick up as many points as we can, starting on Monday with Carrick".
As always at home matches, 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.
