Saturday 28th October
Kick Off 3.00pm
On Saturday we face Crusaders for the third time this season, and second time in the Sports Direct Premiership. They are currently in 2nd place, 7 points behind leaders Linfield and 4 points ahead of us.
After a mixed run of results in September - including league defeats to Cliftonville and Linfield and a County Antrim Shield exit on penalties to ourselves - Crusaders have enjoyed a better October, picking up 10 points from their last 4 league games and progressing comprehensively in the NIFL League Cup against Warrenpoint Town.
In last season’s league games at Seaview, the Crues ran out 3-2 winners last December thanks to an early Adam Leckey goal and a brace from defender Chris Hegarty, our goals coming from Jay Donnelly and Danny Purkis. On the final day of the season, goals in each half from Junior and Terry Devlin helped secure a 2-1 win, with current Loughgall loanee Jay Boyd scoring a last-minute consolation for the home side.
Defender Jimmy Callacher remains sidelined with a long-term injury while Rory McKeown has missed the last 2 games. Midfielder Ben Kennedy has returned to prominence after long term injury, netting 8 times in the opening 13 games.
Warren Feeney: “Saturday at Seaview is a big game, an important game and a tough game, and one that we’re all really looking forward to. It’s good to go there on the back of two good wins in the league and clearly improved performances. We’ve scored a few goals in the last couple of league games which is pleasing as we weren’t doing that so well before. We’re also seeing some of our injured players back and getting them up to speed and that makes a positive difference.
I have immense respect for Stephen for what he’s achieved at Crusaders and it’s always a challenge there. But we’ll go into this one very positively and full of confidence and a determination to get the win and close the gap on Crusaders and others.”
Remaining tickets for this game can be purchased HERE on the Crusaders website.
