Tuesday 10 September 2019, Kick Off 7.45pm
Toals County Antrim Shield Round One
On Tuesday we go for our fifth successive win when we welcome Ballyclare Comrades to the Oval for the second time in a fortnight, this time in the first round of the Toals County Antrim Shield.
Two weeks ago, in the second round of the Bet McLean League Cup, we were comprehensive 5-1 winners through a Jonny Frazer hat trick and goals from Elvio Van Overbeek and Steven Gordon. But there’s no room for complacency tomorrow night. We played Ballyclare at Dixon Park at the same stage three years ago, with only a Jonathan Smith goal separating the teams. It’s a sign of the transformation at the club that of the fourteen players only three (Steven Gordon, Calum Birney and Curtis Allen) are still at the club!
Mick McDermott: “Saturday’s league game against Larne was a great match with great quality of football from both sides. We controlled most of the first half and it would have been very unrepresentative if we hadn’t equalised before half time. Larne made a couple of substitutions early in the second half and it’s fair to say they controlled patches of the game after that. But we showed a very committed and exceptionally disciplined side to our character and no one could reasonably complain when we scored the winner.
The work rate of a lot of our players was immense. Paul and Robbie both have phenomenal engines. They are incredibly fit lads and they never stopped running. They are a nightmare to play against because of how they work to win the ball back. Paul’s finish from a very well worked goal was clinical. We’re in a very good position with the options we have up front. The team was very dependent on Curtis for goals for a number of years but even with Curtis currently recovering from a niggly injury we have been scoring well and have looked very potent. We look forward to having Curtis’ quality back in the lineup soon. Joe Crowe has been very important to us. Joe rarely loses possession, he’s always available for the ball and has been running things very well for us in midfield. Also, the backline has been as steady as a rock for us over the past few weeks, a very encouraging situation considering it’s a completely new setup for them with Paddy new to the club and with Conor and Marcus having played in midfield for most of last season.
The games are coming thick and fast right now but we’re happy with that. Last time out against Ballyclare we made a considerable number of changes to give a number of squad members a game. That worked very well with Jonny, Elvio and Stevie all scoring. That’s the benefit of building a real squad here, rather than relying too much on the same starting line-up week after week. We're nearly at full strength, although Curtis is still recovering from a niggly injury. Tuesday, will be a tricky enough cup tie, sandwiched as it is between two league matches against Larne and Linfield. We want to keep our momentum going here as we treat all matches as equally important as we want to perform well in all the knockout cups as well as the league. But we won’t allow ourselves to be flattered by our 5-1 a couple of weeks ago or lulled into any false sense of security. We want to progress in all tournaments”.
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.
