Glentoran, leaders of the Danske Bank Premiership after 5 games, face Crusaders at the Oval on matchday 6 of the 2013-14 season. Last season the Glens took just one point from four games against the north Belfast side and will obviously be looking to improve on that record this time around.
Crusaders won last season's first meeting 2-nil at Seaview and a late equaliser from Colin Coates (85 mins) cancelled out David Howlands's goal when the teams met at the Oval in early December. The third meeting, again at the Oval, was a nine-goal thriller. Crusaders were 3 up in the first 15 minutes but by the interval the Glens had brought it back to 3-2 with goals from Waterworth and Richard Clarke. Jim O'Hanlon made it 3-3 but the home side then conceded twice more before an injury time goal from Stephen Carson made the final score Glentoran 4 v 5 Crusaders. After the split the teams met for the final time at Seaview on 20th April. 2-1 ahead at the break, Glentoran's Carl McComb should have made it 3-1. He didn't and the Crues went straight down the other end to level the game before McAllister's strike won it for them 3 minutes later.
This term Crusaders lost their opening game 1-0 at Ballinamallard United. A home defeat to Ballymena United (2-1) followed before they finally got off the mark with a comfortable 2-0 win against Linfield at Seaview. A stoppage time equaliser rescued a point for Stephen Baxter's side at Coleraine and they were also involved in another draw when Dungannon Swifts visited Seaview last Tuesday night.
Aaron Boyd's international clearance finally came through late on Thursday afternoon so he will be available for selection this weekend. Following treatment from physio, George Magill, Mark Clarke and Mark Miskimmin were both able to resume training on Thursday night so Eddie Patterson should have a full squad to pick from.