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Fri, 24/11/2017 - 00:17

Glentoran v Ards

Saturday 25h November 2017  Kick Off 3.00pm

We welcome Ards to the Oval on Saturday for the first time this season.

Ards arrive at The Oval on Saturday without a win in the month of November. On Tuesday night, the Red & Blues slipped to a 4-1 defeat at the Coleraine Showgrounds at the hands of the league leaders. They are currently in tenth place, fifteen points behind us.

Manager Colin Nixon will be hoping for better at the weekend, against his old side, but with key players Dave Elebert, Guillaume Keke and David McAllister all injury doubts, they may face an uphill struggle.

Nicky isn't the only Glentoran old boy in the Ards ranks this season. Centre-back Johnny Taylor has been in fine form for the club this season, while Aaron Hogg has proved a sound acquisition since joining Ards from The Oval in the summer of 2016. The Ards squad also includes midfielder Kyle Cherry and striker Carl McComb.

In our last meeting, in early October, we defeated Ards 1-0 at the Bangor Fuels Arena through an early goal from Curtis Allen in a game marred by controversial late red cards for Robbie McDaid and Ards’ summer signing Jonny Frazer. Ards last defeated Glentoran at The Oval in 1987.

Gary Haveron said after training on Thursday night: “Our last 2 matches have seen two very different performances from us and two very different matches where the result didn’t reflect the ninety minutes. Against Glenavon we played very well and clearly didn’t deserve to lose, whereas at Warrenpoint we came away with a pretty underserved win. I didn’t feel we bounced back well enough from the midweek disappointment but the positive is that we scored three very good goals, two of them headers from very good deliveries. We haven’t been scoring enough of those so it’s good to have that bit of variety in our play now.

For Saturday against Ards I’m hopeful we’ll have Nathan Kerr back in contention as he trained well this week. Ross Redman had a scan on his ankle this week. He played through the pain barrier for a few weeks but the doctor has told him it needs a bit of rest. He could be out for another 2 or 3 weeks. Moko covered him very well at left back in Warrenpoint but we missed his bite and aggression in midfield. Calum will most likely be available next week as he’s now back running in training. James Knowles is a slight doubt although I'm hopeful for him as he trained tonight.

Willie Garrett had another good 75 minutes in a friendly for the U20s in midweek. Eoghan McCawl, Bobo Smith, Stevie Gordon and Conall Delaney also played in that match and all did very well in an 8-1 win”.

The Board of Directors at Glentoran Football Club would again request that all supporters travelling to the Oval by private car consider the local residents when deciding where and how to park.