Glens’ travel sickness will be cured by taking our chances, says Kane
WHEN Marcus Kane’s stunning strike ripped into the rigging at Warden Street last Saturday you would have been forgiven for thinking it was a late winner.
Team-mates rushed to mob the Glentoran skipper and the dug-out emptied to dance a collective jig of delight on the touchline for what ultimately turned out to be a sharing of the spoils with Ballymena United.
But when you haven’t tasted victory on your travels this season, you take what you get and Kane’s classy strike certainly gave them a deserved point.
The captain, who like his colleagues across the country, now faces the unusual situation of a festive week off, hopes that the away-day blues will disappear in 2021.
“It’s not like us. I’m not one for excuses but we usually bring 800 fans down here, but as players we have to take care of stuff on the pitch,” said Kane.
“I’m not sure when our next away game is (as things stand it’s Warrenpoint Town on January 16) but we have to look at that and get that monkey off our back.
“We’ve played some really good stuff at times.
“We went to Windsor Park and should have won, and we have held Larne scoreless twice — and that’s a team that has been banging in goals.
“We’re defending well and we had two clean sheets before Saturday, so we do have a good structure.
“We just need to take our chances when they come.
“We need to be more ruthless in front of goal and take our chances. If we do that, we’ll take more points.
“We’ve played only 10 league games, so there’s still a very long period of the season still to go. Hopefully the break will do us good.
“There’s a big gap between now and our next game but, as a player, you’ve just got to get on with it. We’ve also been here before this year.”
As well as tricky days on the road, manager Mick Mcdermott feels that clubs are coming on a mission to frustrate when they come to The Oval.
“The other night, Warrenpoint didn’t exactly come out to play,” he said.
“They came to dig in, and even when the game was 0-0 with a minute to go and they had a corner, they kept six players back.
“For teams coming to The Oval it’s to get a point, and then when we play away it’s hard, it’s a hard league.
“We went to Cliftonville at the start of the season and lost it in the 87th minute. Coleraine was the only game I would say we weren’t in, they did what they had to do better than us. Other than that, we’ve played Larne twice and haven’t conceded against them, that’s a positive.
“Scoring three goals at Windsor Park against the league champions with only nine men at the park... there have been positives and that’s the way we have to look at it.
“We haven’t played bad football for any long spells. If we were playing really badly and not creating chances then I’d be worried.
“We have a two-week break now to regroup.”