Saturday 24 August 2019, Kick Off 3.00pm
On Saturday our apparently endless run of Saturday away trips continues (we have had three Saturday home matches so far in 2019!) as we travel to the Showgrounds to face Ballymena United.
Despite having played a game fewer, United are currently two points ahead of us with a draw and win from their first two games, so we won’t want to lose any more ground on a team that should be one of our main rivals this season. However, we should go there in a relatively positive frame of mind as we have suffered just two defeats in our last 16 league visits to the Showgrounds, winning three and losing two of the five meetings there since David Jeffrey took the Ballymena job.
Our last visit to Warden Street, in March, saw one of our very best performances of last season as we never looked in trouble in a 2-0 victory with an excellent goal in each half from Paul O’Neill and Robbie McDaid. We lost twice to them last November, neither a particularly decisive win for United. At the Oval we lost 1-0 to an early goal in a lifeless display and drab match while ten days later at the Showgrounds, we came back from an early deficit with a second half header from Curtis Allen. At that point we were well on top and looking like winning until we were undone by a piece of crazy defending that gave the referee no choice but to point to the spot. Tony Kane scored the resultant penalty to ensure a 2-1 defeat.
Ballymena sports journalist Stephen Alexander shared with www.glentoran.com his thoughts on United’s summer dealings and start to the season: “Ballymena United are aiming to build on the club’s best season for a generation, after finishing runners-up in the Danske Bank Premiership and also progressing through a round in European competition for the first time in the club’s history. United had kept pace with eventual champions Linfield for most of the season but it was a home defeat by Glentoran in March that ultimately enabled the Blues to build an unassailable gap at the top of the table. That 2-0 Glens victory kept up their remarkable record at the Showgrounds in recent seasons and Mick McDermott’s side will be aiming to continue that trend this Saturday.
Unsurprisingly, given Ballymena’s remarkable exploits last season, manager David Jeffrey didn’t make sweeping changes to his panel during the close season. In came midfielders Declan Carville and Josh Kelly, from Newry and Ards respectively, while wide player Ross Lavery arrived from Cliftonville. The other new arrival is striker Kenny Kane, plucked from junior football with Dervock.
It’s been an encouraging start to the league season for the Sky Blues with an opening day draw at Dungannon followed up by an eye-catching win at Larne last weekend and United will want to continue that momentum as they host the Glens”.
Mick McDermott: “Last week’s performance and result in Dungannon were very disappointing. We got off to a slow start and didn’t really show up in the first half. We allowed ourselves to be bullied. That’s unacceptable and it ended with us giving away a very poor goal where we let a guy get a shot in from 25 or 30 yards out. It’s something we’ll be looking to fix. Then when we switched it around after half time, we had a fourteen minute spell when we created seven decent chances but didn’t take any of them. Giving it a go like that left us exposed to a break and Dungannon took us out with a quick counter attack that we should have handled better.
We know we need to get results and we’re realistic about the expectations of the club and the fans here. We know everyone is up for a match against us, so we have to more than match that to get the results we need. In the areas we still need to strengthen we’re still working on that between now and when the window closes at the end of next week.
For the Ballymena match we’re not asking for a reaction from the players. We’re demanding it. Ballymena is a good team, coming off the back of a very good result against Larne. But there’s no reason why we can’t go to the Showgrounds in a positive frame of mind, start the game better than we’ve done in the past two and match Ballymena all over the pitch. They’re probably expecting to make the top three this season, but my expectations are also high so we’re going there expecting a good performance and result. We’ve no major injury worries for the weekend and we have a boost as Conor Pepper is available for selection for the first time this season, following his three-match suspension, and will be a welcome addition to the squad. He’s a very good player so he’ll definitely add something extra to the squad.”
