Glenavon makes the short journey to Loughgall on Friday night to face Dean Smith’s Premiership newcomers. The Villagers, Championship winners last season, have defeated both Newry City and Dungannon Swifts away from home in an impressive start to the new campaign. Glenavon boss Gary Hamilton has not been surprised by their success.

“Loughgall has begun like Carrick did two years ago and like Newry did twelve months later,” he explained. “New clubs that come up are used to winning. Players are full of confidence. If they get a good result on the opening day, it helps even more. The big challenge for them will be sustaining it over a 38-match season.”

Hamilton is hoping that his team can find some consistency after a poor start. “We did well against Glentoran, and against Linfield for large parts of the match, but we were disappointing in the other two fixtures,” he continued. “We need to get some results on the board and begin to perform well match-by-match.”

The Glenavon manager expects his players to approach the trip to Lakeview Park as professionally as they would visits to Windsor Park or the Oval. “Loughgall will be tough opponents. They beat us in the League Cup and Mid Ulster Cup last season,” he added.  “Recently they gave Glentoran a hard 90 minutes. Our lads need to be in the right frame of mind and not take anything for granted. If we go there determined to work hard and be positive, we can do well.”

Gary reports that, in addition to Niall Quinn (hamstring) and Sean Ward (ankle), striker Andy Mooney (back) is unlikely to play.

Glenavon v Loughgall, Last Season

Date

Result

04/10/22

Glenavon 1 Loughgall 2           League Cup

11/10/22

Glenavon 4 Loughgall 5 a.e.t., Mid-Ulster Cup

Other Glenavon teams in action this weekend:

  • Monday 28th August 2023 – Newry City Reserves v Glenavon Reserves, Newry Showgrounds, 1945 k.o.
  • Saturday 26th August 2023 – Glenavon U-14s v Portstewart Academy U-14s, Lurgan Junior High School 3G, 1115 k.o.
  • Saturday 26th August 2023 – Glenavon U-13s v Ridgeway Rovers U-13s, Lurgan Junior High School 3G, 0930 k.o.
  • Saturday 26th August 2023 – Ballinamallard United U-12s v Glenavon U-12s, Mid Ulster Sports Arena 3G, Cookstown, 1115 k.o.