Tuesday 20th April 2021, Kick Off 7.45pm.
Tonight we make the short journey to North Belfast for the third time to face Cliftonville. We have the opportunity to move into second place with a win. However with the Reds two places and four points this – as will be the case with all our remaining league matches – is yet another six pointer.
On Saturday last, Ryan Curran's first half double against Portadown was enough to secure a 2-1 win and confirm Cliftonville's place in the top six of this season's Danske Bank Premiership. Both sides are in good form. The Glens have gone eight games without defeat while Cliftonville’s run of seven games unbeaten has given Paddy McLaughlin's side a strong chance of competing for the automatic Europa League place. In fact they have suffered just one defeat in the fourteen games they have played since being downed by Jamie McDonagh's late wonder strike at the Oval in mid-February.
The sides have already met twice at Solitude this season - Ryan Curran's 86th minute goal sealing a 1-0 reds win in the opening league game of the season. But the Glens came away with a late win of their own in the County Antrim Shield Semi Final at the start of November thanks to midfielder Dale Gorman's injury time winner.
Although it's fair to say our record at Solitude in recent years has not been impressive, we have managed to win there in the league as recently as last season. On the last Saturday in November 2019, the Glens came away with a 2-0 win thanks to an early goal from Cameron Stewart and a low second half strike by Chris Gallagher, in front of the Glentoran support, notable as it was the first goal either player had scored for the club.
Cliftonville still have top marksman Joe Gormley and left back Levi Ives sidelined by long term injury. Former Glentoran striker Paul O'Neill will be hoping for a recall to the starting 11 after coming on as a second half sub against the Ports. With former Institute man Michael McCrudden having scored 6 in his last 4 appearances and Ryan Curran 4 in as many games, competition for attacking roles is high at present, with ex Glenavon and Linfield winger Daniel Kearns also having to contend with a place on the bench at the weekend.
Mick McDermott: “Friday night at Coleraine was a hard fought match between two highly competitive teams. I thought over the 90 minutes we edged the game in terms of chances created and in terms of possession in what is a hard place to go and play quality football. The pitch there is as poor as I've seen in the League. In the first half we were clearly the more dominant then in the second half we conceded a poor goal after Coleraine changed their approach to a much more direct style. They had a couple of chances and we had more chances but couldn't capitalise. But all credit to both sets of players teams. It will have been really hard for them to play two very intense games within the space of 72 hours and to get themselves up for matches of that level and Tuesday and Friday.
We’ve had the weekend to get ready for a good Cliftonville side coming off a good result on Saturday and pushing hard to pick up results and points as Paddy has said his target is to catch 2nd place as Linfield are well ahead in first. That doesn't mean it's over – far from it - but recent results all around have made them a bit harder to catch. The Reds are on a good run and have picked up a lot of points lately. But so have wee. They signed well in the transfer window and are seeing the benefits. So we go to solitude in a positive mood. We got a result there earlier in the season and also got a good result against them last time at the Oval. It won’t be easy but we’re ready.”
Tonight's match will be streamed live HERE by Cliftonville through 247.tv. Price £7.
