Tuesday 27 August 2019, Kick Off 7.45pm
Bet McLean League Cup
On Tuesday we welcome Ballyclare Comrades to the Oval in the second round of the Bet McLean League Cup.
Last month we visited Dixon Park in a pre-season friendly and won a nondescript match 1-0 through an early Calum Birney header. Our last competitive meeting was in February 2018 when we had a 4-0 away win with Curtis Allen scoring all four. Their last competitive visit to the Oval was in February 2006 when a Tim McCann goal gave the Glens a 1-0 victory in the Irish Cup.
Mick McDermott: “At Ballymena on Saturday I was delighted with the character we showed as well as with the overall performance. The players understood the importance of this fixture at this early stage of the season. They’re a mature group of players and they knew for themselves that after two draws and a defeat we needed to show all our character to and produce a big performance in this fourth game. It’s easy to underestimate the pressure our players were under after the defeat at Dungannon but in the first half we were absolutely outstanding. It was the best we’ve started a game so far this season. It wouldn’t have been unreasonable if we’d gone in three up at half time after hitting the post a few times and pulling a couple of great saves out of the Ballymena keeper. Then the character they showed after Ballymena scored was fantastic. But it didn’t surprise me or the coaches. We see their character every day in training, the way they battle
For Tuesday’s match we’ll show Ballyclare every respect, as there are no easy games in football these days. We have a strong squad now of 23 or 24 professional players who are all good and who all want to play. An example is Jonny Frazer who we brought in over the summer but who didn’t get his chance until Saturday last. When he came on at Ballymena, he brought something different to the game and made a big contribution. Elvio is finding his feet and has had assists in the last two league games. We all know this is a 40 or 50 game season and we’ve assembled a squad that will allow us to cope with that a lot better than recent, much lighter Glentoran squads have struggled with. We need to be in a position where anyone can come in without the performance being diminished in any way, so we’ll use our players in a way that helps build that sort of mentality. But any changes to our starting line-up will always be based on how we feel we are most likely to produce a best performance - we won’t do it simply to give a player minutes. We want to perform at a high level in every game we play and every competition we enter. That includes the Bet McLean League Cup, so we’ll go in tomorrow with the team we think is best equipped to make sure we go into the next round."
The Board of Directors at Glentoran Football Club would again request that all supporters travelling to the Oval by private car consider the local residents when deciding where and how to park. Local parking is freely available at the Arches Health Centre.
