Saturday 13th April
Kick Off 3.00pm
Four Sports Direct Premiership games to go before the playoffs as we travel to the Coleraine Showgrounds on Saturday.
Coleraine come into this fixture on a run of 1 defeat in their last 8 league matches, though they have drawn the last 4 in a row. The most recent was last Saturday’s 2-2 home deadlock with Cliftonville in which they overturned a 2-goal half time deficit.
Although Oran Kearney’s side are already guaranteed to finish in 6th place - sitting 15 points behind Glentoran with only 12 left to play for - they will be seeking to take a run of good form into the final games prior to the all-important European Play-offs, where they will face either ourselves or Crusaders depending on the final league positions.
This season’s first meeting of the sides on Ballycastle Road was a drab 0-0 draw back in November, while Coleraine will be seeking revenge for the 6-0 hammering they suffered at the Oval in our previous meeting in January. The last 3 encounters at the Showgrounds have all ended in draws, with the last Glens victory coming just before Christmas 2021 with a 2-0 scoreline thanks to goals in either half by the Donnelly brothers: Rory scoring from an early header before Jay’s decisive strike after the break.
Midfielder Stephen Lowry missed the Cliftonville game after his sending off against Dungannon Swifts, although Full Back Lyndon Kane did return to the side - after serving his own red card enforced suspension against the Swifts - along with Dean Jarvis and Jack Scott. Experienced striker David McDaid and midfielder Lee Lynch will be hoping to return to the side after spending recent games on the substitutes bench.
Declan Devine: “We’re looking to build on last week’s performance when I thought the application shown by the players was outstanding. They worked extremely hard both with and without the ball, a big improvement on the cup game. Its good that we#.ve had clean sheets in our last 3 league games but now it’s important that from Saturday we’re better in our attacking moments and more creative in getting the ball forward into goalscoring positions. We know going to Coleraine is always an extremely difficult challenge as you’d expect with any away game in the top half after the split, but the surface there is great to play on, and with the players at our disposal we know the task is to keep doing the defensive parts of the job well but also to attack this good Coleraine side and bring more expression and quality in the final third.
You’ll be aware that Rhys Marshall has signed a pre contract to go back to Glenavon. Rhys has been very open and honest with us that at this stage of his career and life he wants to go back to part time football and Glenavon is a club very close to his heart. Rhys is a very honest lad and player and has assured us that he’ll leave everything out there until the end of the season trying to get us back into Europe. I have no doubt that will be the case and we can rely on Rhys while he’s still here. Having said that about Rhys, I’m disappointed that a Premiership club would arbitrarily make an announcement like that at this stage of the season when there’s so much to play for, but only Glenavon will know why they did that.
On the player front Seanan Clucas is suspended and Aidy Wilson hasn’t trained after picking up a knock in the Linfield game. Cammy Palmer and Josh Kelly joined in training this week but it’s a bit early for them. I’ve still a strong squad to pick from for Saturday and we all know what our priorities are between now and the end of the season – strong, confident performances and results and a place in Europe. That’s what everyone is focused on.”
Tickets for the game are available HERE.
