BALLYMENA UNITED v GLENAVON, A LOOK AHEAD

Glenavon travels to the Warden Street Showgrounds on Saturday to face Ballymena United in its next Sports Direct Premiership fixture. Last time out United, now under the management of Jim Ervin, was defeated 5-2 by Loughgall at Lakeview Park. Nevertheless, during the last month, Ballymena has beaten Coleraine (3-1) in the league and on Tuesday night took the Bannsiders (1-1) to extra-time in the BetMcLean League Cup before losing after a marathon penalty shoot-out.

“Any away game is difficult, so we are preparing for a tough 90 minutes,” said Stephen McDonnell. “Ballymena has two decent frontmen who can score goals and they have quality in other areas. We certainly won’t underestimate them.”

Stephen said that the players spent Thursday night’s training session working on a plan to win the game. “We have a few ideas about how we can impose ourselves on the game and put them under pressure.”

He feels that his side has good reason to feel confident about its prospects. “We have won two league matches in a row,” he continued. “We played very well at Carrick and during large parts of the game against Dungannon. If we perform to our potential the result should take care of itself.”

McDonnell also revealed that Aaron Prendergast, Niall Quinn and Peter Campbell trained on Thursday. He is hopeful that all three will be available on Saturday. He also said that Sean Ward is making good progress and might be in contention for a first team place soon. “There is good news on the injury front, for once,” added the Dundalk man. “It would be a big boost to have some of the walking wounded back this weekend.”

When Glenavon played Ballymena United at Mourneview Park in September, the home side won 1-0 thanks to Calum Birney’s headed goal early in the first half.

Glenavon v Ballymena Utd., Last Season

Date

Result

14/08/22

Ballymena Utd. 2 Glenavon 2

28/10/22

Glenavon 3 Ballymena Utd. 2

03/04/23

Ballymena Utd. 0 Glenavon 1

11/04/23

Glenavon 1 Ballymena Utd. 1

Other Glenavon teams in action this weekend:

(Free Admission to all games)

  • Monday 13th November 2023 – Dungannon Swifts Seconds v Glenavon Reserves, Stangmore Park, 1945 k.o.
  • Friday 10th November 2023 – Glenavon U-18s v Linfield U-18s, Lurgan Junior High School 3G, 2000 k.o.
  • Saturday 11th November 2023 – Glenavon U-15s v St. Patrick’s U-15s, Lurgan Junior High School 35, 1115 k.o.
  • Saturday 11th November 2023 – Glentoran U-14s v Glenavon U-14s, The Dub 3G, Belfast, 0930 k.o.
  • Saturday 11th November 2023 – Lisburn Distillery U-13sv Glenavon U-13s, Hydebank Playing Fields, 1100 k.o.