Saturday 3rd November 2018, Kick Off 3pm
On Saturday we make our first visit of the season to Solitude.
We go into this game 2 points behind the Reds so a win will allow us to leapfrog them in the table to move into at least fifth place. Our last win at Solitude was in April 2016 when goals from Curtis Allen and Marcus Kane gave us a 2-goal advantage. Only those 2, Elliott Morris and Steven Gordon are still at the club from the 12 players who took part in that win. We lost both matches at Solitude last season by a single goal, as we did on the opening day of this season when an injury time winner left us with nothing in a game we had led for a large spell through John McGuigan’s first half goal. Clearly we will be expecting an improvement on those close results.
Manager Ronnie McFall: “I was delighted with our performance and result against Coleraine on Tuesday night. The boys showed great battling qualities to come back twice from being behind - they are a great bunch of lads and I’ve got a lot of confidence in them. Not for the first time in recent weeks we had to bounce back from some very controversial refereeing decisions. We had a goal awarded against us that everyone in the ground saw was offside. TV highlights proved that. Then we had a penalty given against James Ferrin for handball when he was no more than a yard away from Bradley. Everything went against us, but the boys didn't drop their heads. They showed great character to come back and win the game, albeit in a penalty shootout.
We had to dig in to turn it around and that’s exactly what the whole team did. If we can maintain the same passion, commitment and resolve, we'll certainly improve our league position. I’ve said before that we’re a work in progress but I’ve no doubt we’re on the right track. Tuesday showed that, as did our win against Ards last week. The supporters are showing at matches that they are fully behind us and appreciate what we are doing. This is a rebuilding job and all the fans ask is that everyone gives 110%. We’re definitely doing that.
For Saturday John McGuigan is still suspended but apart from that I expect to have a full squad to choose from. We’ll see how everyone has recovered from Tuesday night’s exertions but I’m very pleased with how the lads in possession have been playing.”
