Coleraine v Glentoran
Saturday 28th October, 3.00pm.
This Saturday we travel to the Showgrounds to take on league leaders, Coleraine for the second time this season. There’s no doubt this will be a major test for us but we can go in the knowledge we are still the only team to take points so far from the league’s in-form team.
Coleraine’s surge to the top of the table may have caught some by surprise this season, but the fact that they have made it happen with so many key players missing makes it even more of an achievement. They lost regular starters James McLaughlin and Lyndon Kane to long term injuries in pre-season while Gareth McConagie and Davy Kee spent most of the summer getting back to full fitness from knocks picked up at the end of last season, and are only now pushing for a starting spot again. This month, Oran Kearney’s side suffered another double blow as both Brad Lyons and Eoin Bradley picked up serious injuries. Lyons fractured both cheeks against Linfield, with Bradley suffering a posterior knee ligament injury in the derby win over Ballymena.
But no matter what has been thrown at the Bannsiders this season they have risen to the challenge. They have yet to taste defeat in the league this term, but again this should not come as a big surprise as Coleraine have only been defeated in the league on two occasions in the calendar year of 2017. That makes our draw against them last month all the more significant. We will definitely need to be on top of our game on Saturday.
Gary Haveron: “We’ve got a few doubts for Saturday. Eoin McCawl was hit by a really poor tackle on Tuesday night and didn’t train tonight. Nathan Kerr pulled up with a groin strain at Ballymena while Calum Birney is also a doubt. We’ll assess it over the next 36 hours and give the lads every chance to make it. If we need to make forced changes Dan Kelly can move to centre half while Tre Sterling comes back into contention after playing 2 reserve games in the past week. Ross Redman should come back into contention after missing Tuesday night. I’m pleased Dylan Davidson got 25 minutes at Ballymena. We’ll ease him in to make sure we get him fully up to speed for the rest of the season. Coleraine have obviously been going very well and are a very good team but we drew with them last month so we’ll go there positively and go out for the three points.”