Glentoran FC

The Official website of Glentoran Football Club / Pride of East Belfast 

Flickr

YoutubeTwitterFacebook

Match Preview - Glentoran v Crusaders

Thu, 29/11/2018 - 23:44

Saturday 1st December 2018, Kick Off 3.00pm

On Saturday we again take on League Champions Crusaders, this time in the Danske Bank Premiership.

The Crues are on a great run of form after a very poor start to the season, pretty much the opposite of how our season has progressed to date. They come here on the back of a last minute Rory Patterson penalty giving them a 3-2 home win over Institute last week and a 1-0 midweek home win against Larne in the County Antrim Shield.

Ronnie McFall said on Thursday night: “I’ve said a few times recently that we’ve played well in matches but lost through individual mistakes or controversial decisions, but last Saturday at Dungannon, was a different story. I thought we were shocking from start to finish and our team never looked like they were up for the match. Everyone knows were going to get disappointments while we rebuild but I, the management team and most importantly the supporters are entitled to look for and expect a lot more than they were given at Dungannon.

This season we’ve had two very different defeats to Crusaders. At Seaview we were well beaten after not responding properly to a goal virtually straight from kick off. A couple of weeks ago in the Bet McLean League Cup it was a very different story as we got ourselves into a very good, winning position at half time but then capitulated in the second half once they equalised. That first half again proved we can compete against the better teams when we’re focussed and working well but as with so many games recently players lost concentration and made unforced second half mistakes that cost us our place in the semi final. It’s frustrating for us and I know it is for the supporters too as you just can’t afford to slacken off against teams of the quality of Crusaders. They’re deserved reigning champions but like any other team they can be beaten so neither of those performances was acceptable to me.

For Saturday we’ve got John McGuigan back. That’s a positive as we’ve missed a lot of what John gives us, but we’re without Conor Pepper who’s again suspended for too many yellow cards. I think he’s been unfortunate to get so many bookings because he’s not a particularly aggressive player. He’s just very committed and whole hearted and I think that throughout football there are too many soft yellow cards and that leads to unnecessary suspensions at important points of the season. Curtis Allen isn’t available as he’s going to his brother’s wedding so we’ll reorganise things upfront. There are players ready to take their chance so hopefully that will happen. Also Calum Birney is doubtful but we have James Ferrin and Willie Garrett, either of whom can come in and take the opportunity.”

Match Sponsor - Hydro-Ease is Northern Ireland's only dedicated Floatation centre offering restricted environmental stimulation therapy. Founded by Vivian McKinnon in 2015 and based in Dundonald Co. Down. Hydro-Ease has a respected reputation as one of the premier change-work specialist centres offering Floatation, Havening, NLP, Timeline Therapy, Hypnosis and Spectrum performance/emotional coaching.

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.