Ards v Glentoran
Saturday 7th October, 3pm.
On Saturday we look to bounce back from Monday’s comprehensive defeat by Crusaders when we travel to the Bangor Fuels Arena to play Ards for the first time this season.
Ards are currently ninth in the table, eight points behind us. Colin Nixon made a few changes over the summer adding ex Linfield players Michael McLellan, Jonny Frazer and Reece Glendenning (loan) along with David Elebert (Glenavon) and two ex-H&W Welders players, Scott Davidson and Scott Johnston. Former Glens players Aaron Hogg, Kyle Cherry, Jonny Taylor and Carl McComb are all regular members of Nicky’s first team squad.
Gary Haveron has no major injury doubts ahead of Saturday and told www.glentoran.com on Thursday night: “I’m confident we’ll have no hangover from Monday night. The Crues are a very good side and were at their best but we were a bit naïve to play that formation against such a strong, experienced team. We were wrong to think we could try to be so expansive against a team with their strengths. We don’t want any team doing that to us again so we’ll learn from it. We didn’t compete well enough and I take responsibility for that. We’ve had some very good results so far this season but after Monday we need to be smarter about how we prepare for matches against the very top teams. We have big fish to fry in a very different game this Saturday. While we want to be competitive in every match we play, it’s most important that we need to be beating the teams in direct competition for a top six place and also putting some clear distance between us and the rest. That’s our priority focus at the moment.
The boys have trained well this week and I’m confident we’re in a good frame of mind to play Ards. I’ve a virtually full strength squad and I’m also pleased that a number of senior players did very well for the U20s against Crusaders on Tuesday night. Eoghan McCawl, Bobo Smith (2) and James Knowles all scored and Eric Foley played well too. It’s good to see them show the right attitude and commitment in that game, which also benefits the younger boys who get to play with them.
Eoghan needed some game time after joining us so late in the window but he’s pretty much up to speed now. Dylan Davidson has also been back in training and doing well though he’s still a week or two away as he needs some last rehab with physio Jonny Cummings. Finally, Willie Garrett is likely to play his first game for the U20s very soon so we should also have him available for selection before too long”.