Jamie Glackin is thriving in busy festive schedule

Clubs have been forced to juggle their squad with the prospect of playing four games over a two-week period.

Coleraine midfielder Jamie Glackin though says he loves being involved in the games during the Christmas period.

“I love this time of the year, it’s part and parcel of the game and that’s all I’ve known,” he said.

“It’s not as if I’d be out anyway as I’m not really into going out drinking.

“This time of the year you’re playing against the top teams in front of big crowds and you want to be involved in that.

“That atmosphere gives you a real edge and I really do love it.”

The Bannsiders have four points in the bag already with the win over Ballymena United and the draw with Linfield, which Glackin felt could have also been a victory.

“When you have a busy schedule like it is at the minute you need that bit of luck, and if we had got it against Linfield on the second half maybe we could have went on and got the win,” he said.

“We’ll keep knuckling down and keep doing our best every Saturday.

“It’s a tough schedule but we’ll do our recovery to get ourselves right for Wednesday.

“It’s going to be another hard fixture just like all the games in this league.

“And the crowds that have come out the last two games have been superb.

“They have really got behind us and were the 12th man as they say.”

Coleraine will be in for another tough test today against a rejuvenated Carrick Rangers side.

“We’ll stay humble and that’s the way it is, and we’ll go into the Coleraine game, with the attitude that it’s a ‘free hit’ for us,” said boss Niall Currie.

“Coleraine are meant to come and beat us it’s as simple as that. We gave them a great game up their place a few weeks back, so we’ll give it a rattle and we’ll maybe have a 17-year-old in nets and that will be a great experience for him.”