CLIFTONVILLE v GLENAVON THINGS ARE REALLY LURGANUP FOR US

Glenavon manager delighted his young squad have mid Ulster club riding the crest of a wave

GARY HAMILTON admits he’s been surprised by Glenavon’s high flying momentum heading into today’s showdown with in-form Cliftonville.

The Lurgan Blues, who finished sixth last season, lie third in the table and have been one of the surprise packages of the campaign.

And the pleasing thing for player boss Hamilton – who celebrates six years in the post this week – is that has done it with a large contingent of young players.

Nine of the 13 outfield players who featured in last Saturday’s 2-0 win at Ards are aged 23 or under, including highly rated midfield duo Mark Sykes (20) and Bobby Burns (18).

“It has surprised us, there’s no point lying about that,” said Hamilton. “Has the quality of the players surprised me? No, because I see them in training week in, week out.

“What has surprised me is where we are in the table because we don’t have a massive squad. We’ve had a bit of luck with injuries and if we did get a few injuries it could prove difficult for us.

“The lads have done exceptionally well, but you can’t get too carried away in this league because things can change very quickly. We have to focus on each game as it comes.”

Glenavon, who lie just six points off leaders Coleraine with a game in hand, have amassed an impressive 29 points from a possible 36 in their last 12 league outings.

“Yeah, we’re doing well,” said Hamilton. “We have a lot of talented young players and it says a lot that one of our more experienced players is Andrew Mitchell at 23.

“But we also have other senior players like Johnny Tuffey, Sammy Clingan, Simon Kelly and Andrew Doyle who has been exceptional.

“The lads are hungry and they’re coming into training with a smile on their faces. Kris Lindsay’s training sessions have been excellent and we also have [strength and conditioning coach] Gerry Mulgrew who has added another dimension to our fitness.”

Hamilton is bracing himself for a “massive test” against a free scoring Cliftonville side who have won 13 of their last 15 games in all competitions.

The in-form Reds, who lurk two points below Glenavon in the table, have won their last six league games and taken 30 points from their last 11 fixtures dating back to September.

One driving force behind Cliftonville’s charge up the table has been strike pairing

Joe Gormley and Rory Donnelly who have scored 16 goals between them in the club’s last 10 games.

Hamilton said: “We all knew when Joe Gormley and Rory Donnelly’s partnership clicked they’d be a match for any team in this league.

“Barry has a settled team now and that has translated into results. I always suspected it would come for them and they’d be a force this year. ”

Hamilton and his players in the win over Glens ROUND OF APPLAUSE Gary Hamilton is bursting with pride at his side who lie third in the league table TOP DOG Crusaders boss Stephen Baxter on Thursday