Saturday 23rd December
Kick Off 3pm.
On Saturday we make our first trip of the season to County Tyrone when we face Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park in our 22nd Sports Direct Premiership game of the season.
After a frustrating start to the season, Dungannon Swifts form has enjoyed a recent lift that has seen them open up a gap of six points over Ballymena United and Newry City at the bottom of the league table and progress to the Semi Finals of the League Cup. An impressive win at Coleraine last Saturday saw them fight back from 2-1 to secure a vital 3-2 victory, thanks to late goals from former Glens U20s player Matthew Lusty and substitute Tomas Galvin. It has been a productive spell for on loan Larne forward Lusty, netting seven times in the Swifts’ last six games in all competitions. Homegrown attacking talent Galvin is also in a rich vein of form after netting three times in the previous two matches.
In last season’s only league meeting between the sides at Stangmore it took a Jay Donnelly penalty on 86 minutes to break the deadlock and secure a hard earned 1-0 victory in late August 2022. A week or so later Glentoran signed one of the Swifts’ best performers on the night as Terry Devlin would go on to be one of our outstanding performers in that campaign before earning himself a move to League 1 side Portsmouth.
Experienced former Glentoran midfielder James Knowles has missed the last two games after being sent off in the second half of the recent 4-3 defeat at Linfield, though former Oval regulars Caolan Marron and Gael Bigirimani are likely to feature after starting in the win at Ballycastle Road.
Warren Feeney: “The Newry game last week was a very different one from the previous two against Linfield and Cliftonville, but was a very big result for us as it was another great show of character from the boys. You might expect more than a 1-0 against a team in Newry’s position but once we got a red card so early in the game the pressure was always on us. But the lads dug in well and I never felt we were in any serious danger. Both the senior players and the younger ones like Aaron Wightman and Jonny Russell stepped up to make up for the absent player.
"I know I sound like a broken record here but the injury situation is still the biggest challenge facing us. The latest is Singo who’s been outstanding for us all season no matter where we’ve had to play him but now he’ll be missing for a few weeks. Rhys Marshall is back on the treatment table and could be another couple of weeks. Bobby Burns isn’t too far away and Seanan Clucas should be available in January. Jay Donnelly and Harry Murphy will be a while yet plus obviously Aidan Wilson is suspended now. But this always gives others a chance to step up and so far the lads who’ve come in have done well. Moko had an hour for the Seconds on Tuesday night in a win over Cliftonville as did Rory Donnelly, while Seanan played the whole game.
"I’m looking forward to Saturday’s match but its another where we’ll need to be on our game from the start. Rodney has some very good players there and a very well organised and energetic team. I’ve a lot of respect for them and for Rodney who’s a fantastic person. That’s justified by some of the results they’ve had against some of the better teams this season, including their scoreless draw at the Bet McLean Oval in September. But going into a busy period in three competitions we need to continue our momentum by building on the decent run of results we’ve been having.
"Finally as this is our last match before Christmas, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone in the Glentoran Family a very Happy Christmas. The supporters have been well behind us in our recent run of games and have been a factor in our results. The players and I really appreciate that and I know you will keep that going through our last three games of December and into the New Year.”
