Match day 14 in the Danske Bank Premiership sees Glentoran travel to Taylor’s Avenue to face Carrick Rangers.
Earlier in this campaign Carrick Rangers came to the Oval and defeated a lack lustre Glentoran 1-nil. It was Carrick’s first league victory over the Glens since 1993 and that game saw the East Belfast side go on a run which saw resulted in just one victory in the next eight league fixtures. With the change of manager Glentoran’s fortunes are beginning to turn around.
Saturday’s meeting is the third game in the second round of fixtures with Gary Haveron hoping his side can make it three league wins in a row following victories over Dungannon Swifts and Cliftonville.
A 90th minute penalty from Jonathan Smith game the Glens all three points at Stangmore Park a fortnight ago whilst last weekend we came from a goal down at the interval to win the game 2-1 at the Oval against the in form Reds, thanks to goals from Nacho Novo and Steven Gordon.
Team news: Manager Gary Haveron will have to make several changes to the squad for this weekend’s fixture as the injury list continues to grow. Marcus Kane has suffered a recurrence of his groin problem and could be out for 4 to 6 weeks. Young defender Tiarnan McAuley suffered a broken hand in last Saturday’s victory over Cliftonville and although he is still able to train, he will have to sit out the next few games. Nacho Novo suffered a hamstring strain in Tuesday night’s Co Antrim Shield fixture and also misses out. James Ferrin missed Tuesday night’s game with Crusaders with a groin problem and will not be fit for the Carrick Rangers game. He will hopefully return next weekend. Steven Gordon (bruised foot) and Eric Foley (ankle) both picked up knocks last Tuesday and both will need to be assessed prior to kick off on Saturday. On the positive side, Curtis Allen and Jay Magee will return to the squad and Stephen McAlorum is due to make his long awaited comeback in a game for the Seconds next Wednesday.
Apart from our meeting back in mid-August, the only recent history between the clubs came in the 2015-16 season when the sides met three times in the Danske Bank Premiership and once in the League Cup. The opening league fixture of that campaign saw the Glens dominate the first half at Taylor’s Avenue before falling behind against the run of play. It took a spectacular strike from Marcus Kane to earn the Glens a point. The teams then met twice in three days at the Oval. Two goals from Steven Gordon and one from Curtis Allen gave Glentoran a 3-1 victory in the League Cup and that was followed by a 2-0 victory in the Danske Bank Premiership, Stephen McAlorum and Conor McMenamin netting for the home side. In the final clash of the season, two Curtis Allen strikes were enough to give the Glens all three points at Taylor’s Avenue, a game Glentoran won 2-1.