Glenavon travels to Belfast again for the second of this week’s live TV games. This time it’s a trip to Seaview to take on the Champions Crusaders with the match shown live on BBC 2 NI. Kick-off is 7:45pm.
Rhys Marshall is available again after missing Monday night’s win at The Oval but Andrew Mitchell will be assessed tonight after he was substituted late on in the Glentoran game.
“Even before he was kicked he was coming off anyway – it wasn’t the kick that brought him off. He’s been out for a while with a thigh strain and he was beginning to feel it tighten a wee bit,” Gary Hamilton explained. “We were taking him off because we didn’t want to risk him being out for another four or five weeks. If he’s okay he’ll certainly play tomorrow night because I thought the Andrew Mitchell we got on Monday night was the one that we had just before he got injured. I thought he was really good; he held the ball up , he was strong, he got some good crosses in and a couple of shots in. I was glad to see him being big and strong and physical.”
“I felt we were in total control in the first half, if you see the chances we created, Stephen Murray had a good early chance, Mitch has made the goalkeeper make a good save, Sharkey’s hit the bar. They got a breakaway and got a penalty kick and it looked like it was going to be another ‘story of our season’ sort of thing where we’ve dominated a half and found ourselves going in 1-0 down. I couldn’t really say anything to the lads at half time other than keep it going in the second half and get back into the game. To be honest I didn’t think we performed in the second half but when we watched the highlights back, Glentoran weren’t really threatening our goal. Thankfully we’ve ended up winning the game and sometimes it’s nice, when you’re not playing so well, like in the second half, to get a bit of luck for a change because it’s been the story of our season the other way. Hopefully that will give the boys a bit of confidence and belief that, especially when you’re 1-0 down, ten or 15 minutes to go, you can win 2-1 and come away with a late goal and the three points.”
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Stephen Hamilton. Crusaders Paul Heatley with Glenavon’s Rhys Marshall
Ticket Reminder
Tickets for Friday night’s Dankse Bank Premiership match with Crusaders at Seaview are available via the Crues online ticket service but a cash gate will also be in operation. Details here.
Form Guide
Last five league games
Crusaders: W L W L W
Glenavon: D L D W W
Head to Head
Last ten games in all competitions
Glenavon: W2 D2 L6 F16 A31, Average goals per game: 4.7
Match Officials
Referee: Tony Clarke, Assistants: George Argyropoulos, Mark O’Brien, 4th Official: Shane Andrews
This will be Tony Clarke’s second time in charge of a Glenavon game this season, the other being the 1-1 draw on Boxing Day with Dungannon Swifts.
