Preview: Glenavon v Ards

So far November hasn’t been kind to Glenavon with the side picking up just one point from the nine on offer so tomorrow’s visit of bottom of the table Ards will be one in which Gary Hamilton is aiming to get back to winning ways. “No team in the top half has found it easy against Ards,” Gary told us. “They took four points off Linfield in two games and they’ll probably come to frustrate us tomorrow but the boys have to come up with ideas on the pitch to break them down. We tell them what we think they should do and it’s up to them to carry out the instructions on the pitch.

“Sometimes in these games you need somebody to step up to the mark and take the game by the scruff and make a difference individually. In all leagues, no matter what the standard is, you’ve the top players like Ronaldo, Messi and Kane, who do something special and that’s what we need in games like this. The big games take care of themselves, you’ll win some, you’ll lose some, but in the games against the teams in the bottom half it can be hard because the opposition get a lift against you. You have to meet that effort and intensity and better it then you can rely on your quality players to do their jobs; whether it’s a left winger or a right winger, centre forward or centre midfielder, to step up to the mark. And it can’t be the same person every week; people have to take responsibility in games like this to be that player to make a difference, to score that goal or create a goal.

“Defenders and goalkeeper have to be concentrating for 90 minutes because no matter what game, the other team will get chances and you have to stop them and keep a clean sheet so you can rely on your forward-going players to make the difference. Probably our biggest criticisms in the last three games is, we’re not defending balls coming into the box from wide areas, we’re not marking men which has cost us goals, and the other thing is, we’re not scoring enough – we’ve only scored two goals in the last three games which for us isn’t enough for the way we play and the players that we’ve got at our disposal – we should be scoring at least a goal a game.”

Colin Nixon’s side have slipped to the bottom of the table after some decent earlier results but their lack of goals (just 12 in all 16 league games) has been their achilles heel. Centre forward Mark Kelly is Ards’ top-scorer with four league goals and Jonny Frazer has three.

Niall Grace is suspended having picked up his 5th booking against Crusaders last week. Andrew Doyle is recovering from an operation to correct a problem with his knee and will be out for another month or so.

Photo by Maynard Collins

Form Guide

Last five league games

Glenavon: W W L D L

Ards: W L D L L

Head to Head

Last 10 games in all competitions

Glenavon: W7 D1 L2 F21 A10, Average goals per game 3.1

Andrew Mitchell scored last time out against Ards. Photo by Maynard Collins

Matchday Sponsors

It’s a family affair as far as tomorrow’s Match Sponsors are concerned with Isaac Gilkinson and great grandchildren Kelsie and Carter Williamson and Karlie and Issac Gilkinson Jnr. sponsoring the match. Our Ball Sponsor is Gordon Gough and the Glenavon Man of the Match is sponsored by Richard Johnson & Ian Henderson.

Thanks to you all for your generous support.

Charity Collection

Guide Dogs NI will be taking up a collection at Saturday’s game and Glenavon FC would ask all supporters to give generously to this worthy cause. See here for full details.