McMullan on a mission to end Bannsiders’ impressive run
GLENTORAN’S Corey McMullan believes his team are capable of throwing a spanner into the works of the runaway Coleraine juggernaut at the Ballycastle Road Showgrounds today.
Oran Kearney’s boys have been impressive in their opening 11 Danske Bank Premiership starts, which has resulted in them opening up a five-point gap at the top of the table.
Ironically, Gary Haveron’s Glens have been the only team to prise points out of the Bannsiders’ locker. When the teams met at the Oval on September 23, it finished scoreless.
Perhaps, it was a morale victory for the visitors because they had to play for 70 minutes with only 10 men as Josh Carson was red carded.
But it could have been even better for the Belfast side as John McGuigan astonishingly missed a last-minute penalty.
McMullan insists Coleraine’s unbeaten run will come to an end sometime and he’s hoping it will be sooner rather than later.
“Coleraine have been flying this season, they have demonstrated what a good side they are,” said the 21-year-old midfielder. “We’ll certainly need to bring our A-game.
“We can take a lot of confidence from last month’s performance against them. Yes, they played for a long time with 10 men, but we could have won it.
“It’s one we are looking forward to, it will be a good test.
“We have been disappointed with results against the teams above us, so we need to start putting that right.”
McMullan has hit the ground running in the Premiership and admits he is learning with every game.
“The Championship is very competitive and you don’t get a lot of time on the ball,” he said.
“The Premiership is certainly a step up. You need to be switched on all the time because you can be punished for every mistake.
“We have had some pleasing results and we have been disappointed with others.
“We are still trying to find a consistency to our game. We had a good little run in the league early on, which probably raised expectation levels.”
Glens boss Haveron is sweating on the fitness of Eoin McCawl, Nathan Kerr and Calum Birney. He said: “We’ll assess the boys nearer to kick off.”