Preview: Coleraine v Glenavon

Glenavon will have to be at their best if they are to bring Coleraine’s long unbeaten home record to an end at the Showgrounds tomorrow. The Bannsiders have not lost at home in their last 23 games.

The Lurgan Blues is currently the form team in the league, winning four on the spin and is unbeaten since the opening day loss to Linfield.

Bannsiders boss Rodney McAree is still looking for his first win since taking over from Oran Kearney, having drawn his first three games in charge but he’ll be keen to keep that incredible home record going tomorrow against Glenavon.

Gary Hamilton has dismissed any talk of Glenavon being league title contenders. “We aren’t thinking about that at all, we just go into every game looking to win it and, if the lads keep playing the way they have been in the previous games, we have a chance of doing it against Coleraine. They haven’t been beaten in the league in a long time so it’ll be another tough game but somebody has to beat them at some stage and we aim to be that team.”

Andrew Mitchell scored in the 4-2 defeat last season. Photo by Maynard Collins

Supporter Information

Fans travelling to Coleraine tomorrow please note the Frosses Road between Dunloy and Ballymoney will be closed in both directions with diversions in place.

Form Guide

Last five league games

Coleraine: W D D D D

Glenavon: D W W W W

Head to Head

Last ten games in all competitions

Glenavon: W2 D5 L3 F14 A14, Average goals per game 2.8

Stats a Fact

After the opening 9 league games Glenavon has 22 points and are league leaders, one point ahead of Linfield and seven clear of tomorrow’s hosts who are in 3rd place. This is Glenavon’s best start to a league season since 1993-94 which saw the Lurgan Blues unbeaten on 25 points after nine games.
Glenavon lost just three games on the road last season, winning 13 and drawing 3. One of those three defeats was at Coleraine in a 4-2 win for the Bannsiders in September 2017.
In that ‘infamous’ 1993-94 season Glenavon drew the opening game (with Newry), winning the next 12 games before a first defeat at the hands of Cliftonville. A 2-2 draw at home to Portadown on the last day of the season, when a win for either of the Mid Ulster teams would have secured the league title, saw the Gibson Cup head down the M1 to Windsor Park.