After the disappointment of our first domestic defeat of the season at the hands of our biggest rivals Linfield on Monday night, Glentoran look to bounce back with three points at Seaview in a tough fixture against Crusaders. Having drawn our last league game against Ballymena Utd at the Showgrounds last Friday night, The Glens lie third, three points off the pace set by Cliftonville and Coleraine.
The team news for tomorrow's game has both Stephen Carson (hamstring) and Calum Birney (ankle) still out injured and will not feature in the game. This is on top of Richard Gibson and Eamonn Murray who are also out. Mark Clarke continues his suspension from the red card he received at Coleraine last month.
Trips to Seaview are rarely easy games to play against Stephen Baxter's side and this will be no exception. Crusaders have had a mixed campaign so far with plenty of encouraging results however lacking in the consistency to see them challenging at the top so far. Having been beaten 1-0 by Portadown last week, The Crues sit 6th in the table on 13 points, 4 points behind Glentoran.
Of recent Glentoran haven't had a great record against their Belfast rivals having lost both fixtures in 2012 so far, the last of which being a humbling 4-0 defeat in April at the Oval. However Glentoran are a far different side to the one that played that day, with new found confidence and encouraging style of football, Eddie Patterson deserves enormous credit for how the club is progressing. Hopefully that form will continue tomorrow and three points will return with us to East Belfast.