Saturday 13th March 2021, Kick Off 3,00pm.
Tomorrow we make our first visit to Milltown since November 2019, to complete the fixture postponed in February.
In the one fixture between the sides at Milltown last season, the Glens were easy 4-0 winners after running riot in the first half. In the 8th minute, defender Gavin Peers, now of course Warrenpoint player/coach, put us ahead before a Hrvoje Plum double (one a penalty) and Robbie McDaid's goal in the 44th minute completed the scoring. Although both Plum and McDaid will be in this weekend’s squad
Warrenpoint have found results hard to come by in the 11 games since the sides drew 0-0 the Oval in December. In that time, they have lost 6, drawn 2 and won 3. Successive wins against Crusaders and Dungannon had recently given hope of closing the gap on 8th place Glenavon, but Tuesday night’s 5-0 thrashing at Linfield has left them 8 points adrift of the Lurgan Blues. Scoring goals has been a problem, with just 22 scored in 21 games to date. This was the main reason young Striker Thomas Maguire was brought in on loan from Cliftonville in the January window, though he has not featured in their last 4 games since scoring a spectacular overhead kick in a 1-1 home draw with Dungannon last month. Fellow forward Alan O'Sullivan had been transfer listed in January, but Maguire's absence saw him return to the team and net a brace in the 4-1 win over fellow strugglers Dungannon. In recent games, veteran ex-Newry City stopper Andy Coleman has been preferred to Gabriel Sava in goal and he should retain his place despite Saturday's heavy defeat. Defender Danny Wallace has had to settle for a place on the bench for the 2 games since he returned from suspension but is likely to be recalled to the starting 11 for this game. Captain and former Glentoran midfielder Fra McCaffrey returned to the side at The National Stadium after serving a 1 match ban in the 2-0 win against Crusaders at Seaview.
Milltown has been a happy hunting ground for Glentoran since Warrenpoint were first promoted to the IPL in 2013, recording 7 wins from 9 and enduring just 1 defeat - even managing to score 5 goals in 3 of those fixtures and 4 on 2 occasions. In contrast, 'Point have managed just 7 goals in total across the 9 fixtures.
Mick McDermott: “The only way I can describe Tuesday night is that it was a bad day at the office with a very disappointing outcome for us. We had possession of the ball and control of the game for the first half hour. They weren’t threatening us, and I felt pretty comfortable with where we were. But we gave away a poor goal and goals change games. It was very disappointing not to pick up the three points after how we’d been playing, and also to see our long unbeaten home run ended the way it did. Home The positive thing is that the players were really disappointed as well as they know their performance wasn't up to the expectation levels that we've created here. That’s a good thing as when the players are unhappy it's a good sign that they know how high the expectation levels and how important it is to get back on track as quickly as possible.
Warrenpoint is always a hard place to go and this year they’ve strengthened well and performed really well with wins over the likes of Linfield and Crusaders. Both teams are coming off losses on Tuesday night. We’re expecting a tough match, but the players are all determined to put Tuesday behind us and get straight back to the sort of run we were enjoying.
Warrenpoint Town will be streaming tomorrow’s game live, so Glentoran supporters can purchase the game at https://www.performasports.tv/club/warrenpoint-town-fc
