Tuesday 30th October 2018, Kick Off 7.45pm
Our League Cup campaign continues on Tuesday night with the visit of Coleraine in the BetMcLean League Cup..
Coleraine have had a very mixed couple of weeks – a 1-0 win over Crusaders followed by a 2-1 loss to Cliftonville on Saturday, both matches at home – so they will come to the Oval looking to get back on track.
From our perspective it’s time we beat Coleraine. Our last win over them was a 2-1 win at the Showgrounds in May 2016. We were unlucky to only draw our last meeting in August when – not for the only time this season – a late equaliser from Eoin Bradley cancelled out our 2-1 lead through goals from Curtis Allen and Peter McMahon.
Ronnie McFall: “I was very pleased with our all round performance against Ards on Saturday. We came out with the right attitude and dominated the game right from the start. The thing that pleased me most was that we took control of the midfield early on and didn’t ever let go of it. Although we still need to strengthen in January I think we’re seeing that we have a greater strength in the squad this season as we’ve been forced into a few changes over the past couple of weeks and the players who have come in have all done very well for us. It’s important to bear in mind how young the current squad is: Cricky Gallagher and Dylan Davidson are 19, James McCarthy and Paul O’Neill 18, Joe Crowe and Nathan Kerr are 20. Robbie McDaid has just turned 22. Even Conor Pepper and John Herron – who we’re looking to for their experience – are just 24. So we’re building something strong for the future and I think Saturday’s performance showed we’re on the right track.
For tomorrow night’s match we are obviously without John McGuigan after his red card on Saturday and Calum Birney who finishes his three match suspension. We also have slight doubts over Marcus Kane (knee), Ross Redman and John Herron (both groin). If we lose any of them I’m confident that whoever comes in will give a good account of himself.
Coleraine are coming here after what must have been a difficult match on Saturday. I know they’ve had a tougher start than expected but they’ve got a very strong squad and we’ll not take them lightly. I thought we were the better team in our league match so we’ll go into it in a positive frame of mind. We want a good run in the League Cup after being very unlucky to go out of the County Antrim Shield last week so the whole squad will be up for this match".
Coleraine supporters please note that this game is segregated and away supporters will only be able to enter the ground from the City End.
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.
