Swift Return for Kris Lindsay!

In one of those ironies that football seems to throw up on a regular basis, our recently departed player-coach Kris Lindsay is straight back to Mourneview Park for his first game in charge since taking over as Dungannon Swifts manager. The move was officially announced following Tuesday night’s games which saw Lindsay’s new Club defeat Crusaders with a last-minute penalty in a 3-2 win at Stangmore Park. Meanwhile Glenavon was defeating Ards 2-0 at the Bangor Fuels Arena to move a point ahead of Linfield at the top of the table.

Kris Lindsay will be in the away dugout tomorrow!

“Kris of course knows all about us,” Gary Hamilton acknowledged. “He was with us over 6 and a half years and we’ve played to the same formula, we try and get players in to fit the formula and system that we play and we try to get the same results. Kris will know that inside out because he’s helped coach it and he’s helped put into practice what I want on the training field and on the pitch. He knows the players, he knows all their strengths and weaknesses, he knows the team’s strengths and weaknesses so if anybody is geared up to counteract us, it’s him.

“You can know everybody’s strengths and weaknesses but on the day the team that performs and plays well, as we’ve seen against the likes of Crusaders and Ballymena and even Linfield, though we didn’t get the result, our boys are a match for anybody and there’s no reason that we can’t get three points tomorrow though we know it will be difficult, as it usually is with Dungannon, even before Kris joined them.”

Gary was impressed with the home support during last week’s superb victory over Crusaders. “When players get the support like we got last week, they bounce off it and they perform, individually and as a team. Last week the support was tremendous, everybody saw that and all the fans stayed until the end and gave the team a standing ovation – the boys really appreciated that. Hopefully tomorrow, after what the boys served them up last week, we’ll get the fans out in big numbers and we’ll get the same loud, vocal backing again.”

A packed Geddis Stand was treated to a feast of attacking football by both sides last week. Photo by Alan Weir.

Dylan King returns to the squad after sitting out Tuesday night’s win against Ards which he missed through suspension but Aaron Harmon is unavailable. Sammy Clingan, who was an unused substitute last Saturday against Crusaders, also missed the Ards game as he does not play on plastic pitches but he should be in the squad tomorrow as he continues his comeback from a calf strain.

For the Swifts Paul McElroy, who scored the dramatic late winner against Crusaders on Tuesday night, and Seanan Clucas are both unavailable tomorrow.

Important Notice to Parents

Parents are reminded that young children must be supervised at all times. This is particularly important when the players are completing their pre-match drills at the Crescent End.

Charity Collection

Kevin Duncan, who is one of our car park stewards, will be taking up a collection on behalf of Tiny Life at tomorrow’s game. As you always do, please give generously to this very worthy cause.

Stats a Fact

Kris Lindsay made a total of 150 appearances for Glenavon as a player or player-coach, scoring 9 goals
His first appearance was in January 2012 in a 2-3 home league defeat to Lisburn Distillery
His last, and only appearance this year, was in the 2-0 Mid Ulster Cup win over Windmill Stars
Joining Glenavon in January 2012 he was one of Gary Hamilton’s first signings but damaged a cruciate in his first game and missed the rest of the season
Following an operation he refused to take any wages until he could prove his fitness and he eventually got back to action in October that year, going on to make 25 appearances that season.

Head to Head

In the last ten league meetings between the sides at MVP Glenavon has won 5, drawn 1 and lost 4, scoring 15 goals and conceding 13, an average of 2.8 goals per game.

A 2-0 win against the Swifts in March 2017 confirmed Glenavon’s top six spot for the 2016-17 season.

Form Guide

Last five league games

Glenavon: W D W W W

Dungannon: L D L D W

Matchday Sponsors

Many thanks to all our sponsors for Saturday’s game.

Our Match Sponsor is Avondale Foods (Craigavon) Ltd, one of the largest and most successful food manufacturers in Northern Ireland. The company produces a wide range of prepared salad, soups and sauces for the large multiple supermarket retailers in the ROI and the UK.

The Ball Sponsor is Environmental Packaging & Recycling which specialises in the supply of new and recycled containers for industry.

Our Glenavon Man of the Match award is sponsored by supporter Jonathan Burns.