Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WE’RE HAVERON A BLAST!
Glens boss excited by battle for fourth with United
GLENTORAN boss Gary Haveron says his players will relish the second leg of their top four tour at Ballymena United tomorrow.
The Ovalmen, who lie fifth in the Danske Bank Premiership, were unfortunate to lose 1-0 to reigning champions Linfield at Windsor Park last Saturday.
By a quirk of fate, the next three fixtures see Haveron and company face off against the other three clubs who finished in last season’s top four.
After this week’s trip to Ballymena United, who were fourth last time out, the Glens host Coleraine and Crusaders, who finished third and second in May, on September 23 and October 2.
“Brilliant – why not?” said Haveron of the daunting fixture schedule.
“We lost at Linfield last Saturday, but we had a go and took a lot of positives from the game. We won’t fear going anywhere and we’ll go to Ballymena with a lot of confidence.
“Ballymena won’t want to play us, nor will Coleraine even though they’re top of the table.
“What’s the point being fearful? We’ll give 100% respect, but we’ll also have a go.
“Glentoran is a massive club and there is a weight of responsbility that comes with that, but the players are carrying it well and will only get better.”
Haveron, appointed just 12 months ago, is confident the Glens can bounce back from last week’s narrow loss to the Blues – their first defeat in seven outings this season.
But he expects a tough test against a Ballymena side which has won three on the bounce in all comptitions after faltering early season.
The former United captain said: “I know from experience the Showgrounds is a tough place to go. They’ll have been disappointed with early results, but they’re hitting a bit of form.
“They’re a good side with vastly experienced players and like all David Jeffrey (above) sides will work extremely hard, but we’ll go there with a lot of positives from our performance at Linfield. This is a strong group mentally and I know they will react positively to last week’s defeat.”
The Glens looked lively at Windsor Park and created a number of chances, but lost the first Big Two derby of the campaign to an early Aaron Burns header.
Haveron said: “We didn’t deserve to come away with nothing, but the difference was they took their chances and we didn’t take ours. It’s all about being clinical in both boxes.
“We had a go and that’s the mentality of this group of players. Last season we didn’t have the personnel and energy to have a go, but this season we do.
“The players were hurting last Saturday, but you can’t feel sorry for yourself in this league.
“You have to move on quickly and all our focus this week has been on Ballymena.”