Saturday 1st February. 2020, Kick Off 1.30pm
Tomorrow afternoon we aim to continue our run in the Sadler’s Peaky Blinder Irish Cup with out first visit to the Dub Playing Fields in South Belfast to play Queen’s University.
This is the first time we have played Queen's in the Irish Cup, although we met at the Oval last season in the County Antrim Shield. On that occasion two late goals from Curtis Allen cancelled out to give us a 2-1 after a turgid performance. However, eight of the players who featured that night are now away from Glentoran so it will be a very different team starting at the Dub. Our previous meeting was ten years ago and a 5-0 League Cup victory at the Oval. That time the goals came from a Matty Burrows hat trick and two from Daryl Fordyce. Needless to say, only Elliott Morris is a survivor from Scott Young’s team that night.
Queen’s are currently eighth in the Bluefin Sports Championship, but after their unexpected victory over Linfield in the previous round, they’re not to be dismissed or disregarded in any way.
Mick McDermott: “On Tuesday against Glenavon I thought we maybe weren’t as good as we were against Larne, but we got a much better result. I was pleased with how we took control of the game and took our chances early and well. Glenavon’s confidence can’t have been high after their Linfield match, but equally if we had let them into the game or get an early goal it would have grown, and we could have had another Warrenpoint or Portadown game. We took the opportunity to give Jonny a start and to give Stevie and Curtis a run. That also allowed us to give Peersy and Robbie a rest once we’d established a good lead as we’ve a lot of football and a lot of tough games coming up.
For Saturday’s cup game we have Caolan and Mitch cup-tied. That’s why they didn’t play on Tuesday night as I needed to use that game partially to prepare for the Irish Cup. Keith is fit after hurting his ankle last week, so he’ll be in the reckoning so really we’re just missing Hrvoje who picked up a nasty injury at Larne. He’s a big miss but Navid stepped into that role well against Glenavon and was involved in much of what we did well on the night.
Every game a club of Glentoran’s stature plays is an important one and every opponent we face is treated with the same consideration and respect. Queen’s showed in the last round how they can raise their game to get an unexpected result, so we won’t forget that going into Saturday. I know what the Irish Cup has historically meant to the Glens’ support and Paul Millar knows that even better from his own cup exploits as a player here. So, we’re out to perform as well as we can in this tournament, just as much as in the league.
Finally, this is a very small ground we’re playing at, and I know that by the nature of things we’ll have a very small support with us. So please, those of you who are there, get behind the team even more than you usually do. The players will really appreciate it, as they do every week.”
Glentoran supporters are reminded that due to reports of counterfeit tickets available for this game, Queen's University FC have asked that each of the 100 Glentoran supporters who were successful in the draw for tickets please report to the reception at the Dub when they arrive, to show their season ticket as well as their match ticket. No one will be able to gain entry without proof of identification.
Also, supporters should note that they must retain their ticket stub when using the bar and toilet facilities as there will be no re-entry to the ground without this.
