ARMAGH CITY V GLENAVON, A LOOK AHEAD 2k3r5w

On Tuesday 5TH November 2024 Glenavon travels to Holm Park to face Armagh City in the second round of this season’s BetMcLean Cup. The match, which kicks off at 1945, will be played to a finish with extra time and penalty kicks, if required. 51965

Armagh City is presently in eighth place in the Playr-Fit Championship with five wins and four draws from 14 matches. On Saturday it won 3-2 against Ballinamallard United. In October Armagh defeated Loughgall 3-2 at Lakeview Park in the first round of the BetMcLean Cup.

Stephen McDonnell views the trip to the cathedral city as an opportunity to both bounce back from last weekend’s disappointing 3-0 defeat at Loughgall and secure a place in the quarter finals of a major tournament.

“It is an important match for us,” he explained. “The fact that it comes so soon after Saturday and offers us a chance to make progress in a cup competition should motivate us even more. We want to win every game that we play.”

McDonnell was very disappointed with the defeat at Loughgall. “Since the start of September, we have been very competitive in every match. Saturday was out of character,” he continued. “But we still controlled the game for long periods. Unfortunately, we didn’t take our chances and made some bad defensive mistakes.”

Stephen insisted that his team had enough scoring opportunities to win. “Nathan Gartside, the Loughgall goalkeeper, was the player of the match. That is a good indicator of the type of game it was. We created multiple chances but weren’t clinical enough and were punished.”

Although the Blues’ boss accepts that scoring goals has been a problem for most of the season, he does not believe that a change of style is needed. “We have created good opportunities in every game we have played, but, unfortunately, have not converted enough of them. It is something we have worked on in training and talked about at length. I don’t think it is a tactical or style issue. We have good players. Hopefully, they will find the net more often.”

Stephen reports no new injuries ahead of the trip to Armagh. He intends to field a strong team. “We may make some changes to the starting eleven, but it will be a competitive side,” he added. “Chris Atherton and Paul McGovern will be available again but, if selected, we will have to make a judgement about how many minutes they should play. We are hoping that both Paul Haughey and Calum Birney will play full games for the Reserves this week.”