Dungannon Swifts v Glentoran
Saturday 21st October, 5.30pm.
This Saturday we look to bounce back from two consecutive home defeats with a visit to Stangmore Park.
This is the latest in a number of genuine six pointers we have faced as Swifts are one place and four points behind us in the Danske Bank Premiership table. It’s imperative that the team bounce back to the form of August and September following very insipid performances against Carrick Rangers and Cliftonville. It provides an opportunity for us to strengthen our top six position and to possibly improve on that depending on results elsewhere. Either way, Swifts deservedly finished above us in the table at the end of last season, a situation we need to prevent being repeated.
The corresponding match last season saw Gary Haveron record his first win as Glentoran Manager with a 0-1 win secured by a last-minute penalty by Jonathan Smith. We also had a 2-0 win in our earlier game this season at the Oval with goals from Curtis Allen and John McGuigan.
Although Swifts lost top men Andrew Mitchell and Jamie Glackin this summer, new signings to watch are Ryan Mayse and Johnny Lafferty. Both players have history with Glentoran – Mayse scored against us for Ballinamallard in three consecutive clashes last season while Lafferty was very involved in incidents that led to Steven Gordon being sent off at Ferney Park in each of the past two seasons.
Gary Haveron: “It’s always tough enough at Dungannon but we’ll be really expecting to bounce back tomorrow. Swifts always try to play the right way and despite their loss last week they’ve clearly improved since we played them in August. But I’m confident we can get a good win.
John McGuigan will definitely miss this one and may need an operation on his knee after what happened to him against Cliftonville. Ross Redman is touch and go but I don’t want to rush him. I’d sooner have him fully fit long term. On a happier note, Dylan Davidson has been training brilliantly so I’m expecting the surgeon to give him the all clear next week. Dylan has been a massive loss as since he went we haven’t been able to get the same balance on the left and we’ve also missed his great final ball into the box. Dylan and John are both a big part of how we set up to play this season so getting Dylan back will be a big plus for us”.