Tuesday 20th December
7.45pm Kick Off
Tomorrow night we travel to Solitude in the Danske Bank Premiership as we look to achieve our first win in four attempts against the Reds to close the gap between the two teams to 0ne point with the Glens having played two games fewer.
It is exactly one month since the Reds took all three points from the Bet McLean Oval thanks to a spectacular first half strike from Ryan Curran. In the intervening period, Cliftonville have played 4 games: beating Newry City and Portadown at Solitude in the League but also suffering a shock 4-1 defeat away to Ballymena United and exiting the League Cup to Coleraine at the Semi Final stage.
Despite this, Paddy McLaughlin’s side remain in 3rd place in the table, 5 points behind leaders Larne but with tonight’s game in hand offering the chance overtake Linfield into second place and to close that gap on Larne to 2 points as we head into the busy festive schedule.
Cliftonville have lost just twice in their last 16 league fixtures and have yet to taste defeat in the league at Solitude this season: winning 6 and drawing 2 of their 8 home matches to date. Glentoran did win on our last visit to north Belfast, however, with a Jay Donnelly brace securing a 2-1 victory in January of this year after the Reds had taken an early lead through former Glens winger Jamie McDonagh.
McLaughlin rotated his squad for the weekend win over Portadown, with regular Central Defenders Johnny Addis and Jamie Robinson dropping to the bench, along with this season’s top scorer Ryan Curran. All 3 are likely to return to the side for this game, with the experienced duo of Colin Coates and Joe Gormley potentially making way, although following Gormley’s hat trick on Saturday that may not be as clear cut as anticipated.
It remains to be seen if our own injury list has shortened following the postponements of our last two games but we know we will still be without at least the injured Conor McMenamin and the suspended Shay McCartan, while Seanan Clucas made a very welcome and popular return in our last game. Supporters will be expecting a significant improvement on recent performances and results with this game to be followed by a visit from Linfield on Boxing Day.
