The Glenavon squad, directors and 20 ardent supporters fly off to Iceland on Wednesday morning in preparation for Thursday night’s Europa League First Leg match with KR Reykjavik. After settling in to the team hotel the squad will have a training session and check out the Alvogenvöllurinn ground of our opponents.
With the Icelandic league season already nine games in, KR currently occupy 9th place in the 12 team Úrvalsdeild. Having lost five of the last six games in all competitions KR parted company last week with Coach Bjarni Eggerts Gudjónsson and his staff.
Willum Thor Thorsson, who is a former KR player and is currently a Member of the Icelandic Parliament, has been appointed as the new manager until the end of the season.
Gary Hamilton knows it will be a tough test for his side despite KR’s poor run of form. “The appointment of a new manager usually lifts the side so we’ll need to be at our best.”
The Glenavon manager has first-hand experience against Thursday’s opponents having played against them for his former club Glentoran.
Speaking to Gary Ellis of the Lurgan Mail, the Lurgan Blues boss said “We will be positive and do our very best to keep the tie alive and hopefully that will give us something to play for at home. I would have preferred to be at home first, but that is all down to the luck of the draw. We have a team that can score goals and it will be more important than ever to make the most of set-pieces.
“An away goal would be huge and hopefully we can take any chances that might come our way.”
The game kicks off at 7:15pm local time, 8:15pm here. We hope to bring you updates on the website so keep refreshing your browser for the latest from the game!
The second leg is on Thursday July 7th at Mourneview Park, kick off 7:45pm.
