Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ORAN: PUT PRESSURE ON CRUES
DUNGANNON SWIFTS defender Chris Hegarty hopes lightning strikes twice when he renews rivalries with Ballymena United goalkeeper Ross Glendinning in the League Cup final.
Hegarty has only ever scored one goal against Glendinning, coming in 2013 when he was plying his trade with Scottish giants Rangers.
Five years on from that friendly win at Ibrox, Hegarty is hoping he can repeat the dose in tomorrow’s League Cup final at Windsor Park.
“It would be great to score, but the main thing is the result,” said Hegarty.
“I remember that friendly game well between Rangers and Linfield. It was played in April, and came just a few days after Linfield had lost the league title to Cliftonville.
“It was at Ibrox and Rangers won 2-0. I managed to score the opening goal with a header, and it was Ross who was in goals for Linfield.
“I remember doing a Gangnam Style dance celebration which the then manager
Ally Mccoist and his assistant Kenny Mcdowall joined in on.
“I apologised for the celebration afterwards but it was an ongoing joke at the time.
“So that’s one memory I have of playing against Ross, and hopefully I can do it again on Saturday.”
Hegarty spent four years at Rangers from 2010-14, ORAN KEARNEY has urged Coleraine to capitalise on Crusaders’ inactivity in the Danske Bank Premiership this week with victory at Ballinamallard United tonight.
With the league leaders facing Inverness Caledonia in the Irn Bru Cup semi-finals on Sunday, the Bannmen can close the gap at the top of the table to two points.
Three draws in their last four league outings – albeit against the Crues, Glenavon and Linfield – have seen Coleraine tumble off the pace.
But Kearney said: “There’s still a lot of football to be played and the key thing for us is to pick up as many points as we can. We want to try and push Crusaders as far as possible.”
The Mallards, who are four points adrift at the foot of the table, saw their form pick up after a strong January transfer window, but have since lost three on the bounce in all competitions.
Goalkeeper Richard Brush and midfielder David Kee are both suspended after being red carded in last week’s 2-1 league defeat at Glentoran.
Elsewhere, will look to build on their midweek 2-1 win over Carrick Rangers against struggling at The Oval. The Glens lie sixth in the table, while Ards have lost their last four games in all competitions, including a 6-1 hammering at the hands of Glenavon on Tuesday night.
Ards boss Colin Nixon said: “We have been defending very poorly. It is something we have to address very quickly.”