With the club celebrating it's 130th birthday before kick off with a special presentation of some of our most iconic legends, this will hopefully inspire Glentoran's current crop into a memorable performance against Portadown in the Danske Bank Premiership at 3pm tomorrow afternoon. After suffering our first league defeat of the campaign last weekend at Seaview, it is vitally important we bounce back with a positive result in this game.
In last week's game, Jason Hill picked up an injury which he has not recovered from and will therefore miss the game. Calum Birney remains sidelined but on a more positive note, Jimmy Callacher has recovered well this week from his groin injury and is in contention. Stuart Elliott completed 120 minutes in the Institute game on Tuesday proving his match fitness therefore will also be in contention.
Our visitors Portadown have been unable to replicate the form which saw them finish 2nd last season and currently lie in 10th position. The loss of top scorer Matthew Tipton to Linfield in the summer has no doubt been a factor but a large number of injuries have also played their part. For tomorrow's game, Gary Breen, Tim Mouncey, Neil McCafferty, Richard Lecky and most notably Northern Ireland international Kevin Braniff are all ruled out with injuries.
The game tomorrow will be an opportunity for both sides to re-launch their campaign after Glentoran's recent blip and Portadown's slow start, and with a history of feisty challenges and high scoring games, this game has potential to be a classic.
Glentoran supporters are reminded that the pre-match 130th pitch presentation will begin at 2.40pm and we would like to encourage as many fans as possible to be in place by this time to show appreciation to our legends who have achieved so much for the club. As a mark of the 130th anniversary, Glentoran will be wearing the special edition kit voted by the fans last month.