Glenavon head to Stangmore Park for the second time in less than a week for the third league meeting of the season between the sides after the Lurgan Blues lost out to the Swifts in the Mid Ulster Cup semi-final on Tuesday night.

Gary Hamilton made ten changes for that cup game so the starting eleven on Saturday will be a lot different and will be more like the one that drew 3-3 last weekend at Mourneview Park against Cliftonville. “We’ll be back to the team that got the results in our last two games, ” Gary confirmed. “We may add Ciaran Martyn to the squad after he came through well on Tuesday. Dave (Elebert) wasn’t so lucky and it’s very frustrating for him, the staff and the fans but we’ve done the best we can to get him back fit. It’s just unfortunate.”

Striker Eoin Bradley celebrated signing a two year extension to his contract by scoring all three of Glenavon’s goals against the Reds, following up his double in the Irish Cup the previous weekend. That broke a goal drought for the Derry man which stretched back to the last visit to the Swifts back in November when he came off the bench to grab a stoppage time winner after Glenavon had two ‘goals’ controversially chalked off.

‘Jonny on the spot’ Eoin Bradley nods in the injury time winner. Photo by Alan Weir.

“Since we last won at Stangmore we’ve been on a good run and we want to keep that going,” Gary continued. “We rarely have it easy against the Swifts and we have a bad habit of letting them score first. We have to do the right things and perform to our capabilities. If we don’t then we know what can happen. If we can score the first goal it should make a big difference.”

Games between the sides are usually hard fought and close so Gary Hamilton will be expecting nothing less from today’s match as he seeks to keep Glenavon’s league momentum going. Having lost only once in the last ten league games, Hamilton will want to get back to winning ways and maintain the pressure on the teams above as he continues his effort to finish as high up the league as possible.

Bus Times

@so2014_gsc leaving Supervalu, Flush Place at 1.30pm
@TriangleGSC leaves Moira roundabout 1st at 1.30pm and MVP at 2pm.
William Walker GSC and @Victoria_GSC leaves MVP at 2pm