Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘AVON GUARD
Healy wants his players to be wary of the threat Lurgan Blues carry today
LINFIELD boss David Healy believes his boys face one of their toughest games of the season today against Glenavon at Windsor Park.
The champions approach the showdown protecting an unblemished record of five wins from five league games.
And while Gary Hamilton’s (inset) Glenavon lost their opening fixture against Portadown, Healy is aware they have picked up momentum.
He warned: “Glenavon are now finding a bit of form. Considering they lost their opening game, they have had three draws and a win in their last four outings.
“In a couple of those draws, decisions went against them.
“They have caused us problems in the past. They defeated us last year and beat us the year before, so we are expecting a difficult game.”
The f ormer Northern Ireland striker, however, prefers to focus on his own t e a m’s st re n g t h s . Th e y produced probably their best performance of the season to win 2-0 at the Coleraine Showgrounds last weekend.
“If I get the honesty levels I got lost week, this is a game we can win,” said Healy.
“Anything we get is down to hard work.
“We are five games in and a million miles away from anything being decided, but we have given ourselves a good platform to go on and hopefully have a decent season. I was thrilled with our performance at Coleraine.
“It’s important we take care of the away games which can be crucial. Our energy levels were high , which was something we needed at that venue as we found it difficult in the past.
“It was a couple of years since we last won down there. Coleraine are going to be in and around us at the end of the season, so it was good that we were able to take points off them.”
Although it was what he described as a ‘complete team performance’ Healy, singled out Jordan Stewart, the scorer of the Blues second goal, for a special forc
tht word of praise,
“When Jordan is in that form, he is a pleasure to watch. Our league has many talented footballers, many players with huge ability, but Jordan has more ability than most. I’m delighted with his performances.”