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Match Preview: Glentoran v Larne

Fri, 23/04/2021 - 00:42

Friday 23rd April 2021, Kick Off 7.30pm

Tonight we welcome Larne to the Oval for yet another six pointer with a team near the top of the table.

Glentoran won last season's only league encounter at the Oval, recovering from going behind to Jeff Hughes' early strike to win 2-1 in the early September 2019 fixture thanks to an equaliser by Paul O'Neill and a late winner from Captain Marcus Kane. The previous game at the Oval this season ended in a largely uneventful 0-0 draw - indeed all 3 meetings between the teams so far have ended in draws, with December's County Antrim Shield Final ending 0-0 (Larne going on to win on penalties) and the last league game at Inver Park at the end of January finished 1-1, with Jeff Hughes giving Larne a HT lead before Robbie McDaid equalised 2 minutes after the restart.

Larne have lost just 7 games so far this season (just one more than ourselves and Linfield) as they aim to improve upon last year's 6th place finish and secure the club's highest league finish in over 30 years. Having managed to stay unbeaten away from home until 20th February, however, the 2-1 defeat at Shamrock Park on Saturday marked a 4th defeat in their last 9 away games. This leaves Tiernan Lynch's side in 4th place, 5 points behind us, as we prepare to play the last game before the league split.

Experienced goalkeeper Conor Devlin had to be substituted at Shamrock Park due to injury, so it is likely that ex Burnley and St Johnstone man Conor Mitchell will make a first league start of the season in his place. The veteran ex Ballymena and Linfield defender Albert Watson, midfielder Lee Lynch and former Republic of Ireland youth defender Graham Kelly have also been on the injury list in recent weeks and could miss out again. Striker David McDaid and ex Arsenal midfielder Martin Randall will hope to be recalled after making substitute appearances against the Ports.

Mick McDermott: “Tuesday night’s win at Cliftonville was the clearest possible demonstration of the importance of a strong squad. Joe Crowe came in for his first start since December and had a great game beside Caolan at centre back with Paddy also doing very well covering for Marcus at left back. We were able to give Robbie McDaid a rest as he had played a lot of games in quick succession......and still Robbie was able to come in and have a big impact in the first goal. Andrew Mitchell has been contributing massively since his return from injury, and Chris Gallagher also stepped in with a solid performance,

Again I felt we controlled the game from start to finish and this time were able to get the second goal that made the match safe for us. The whole team worked exceptionally hard and well, and we dictated the pace throughout.

For tomorrow we know we’ll be up against a well-matched team given how close all our matches with Larne have been since they were promoted. There was little between the teams in any of our three meetings this season no matter where we’ve played each other. Three draws demonstrates that, although we’ve t into our stride a lot more since then as our players have grown to know each other. As always we’ve prepared very thoroughly for this one and we’re looking forward to a good game and another good performance.”

Tonight's match will be streamed live HERE and on iPlayer by BBC Sport NI.