Declan Devine calls for 'a bit more common sense' with fixture schedule 'hard on the players and supporters'

Having lost out 1-0 to Ballymena United on Saturday thanks to Ben Kennedy’s late strike, the Glens will be looking to bounce back in Tuesday’s home clash against Loughgall before travelling to reigning Premiership champions Larne on Friday evening.

That means, just like the Inver Reds, they’ll play three games in the span of six days and will have another bumper week soon with fixtures against Glenavon (September 28), Dergview (October 1) and Linfield (October 4).

Devine feels the current schedule is placing too much pressure on both players and fans alike, telling the club’s website: “I want to say it’s hard on the players and supporters to expect them to do Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday for the second time in three weeks, plus we have it again in a fortnight with a League Cup game then Friday against Linfield.

"It’s happening because of TV but I think there needs to be a bit more common sense in how the TV games are allocated. It’s expensive for supporters too as it's £15 for an adult three times a week and that mounts up for people.”

Having previously put together a five-game unbeaten run across competitions, Glentoran are now coming off the back of consecutive league defeats against Dungannon Swifts and Ballymena – they lost both 1-0 – while Loughgall are winless since an opening day victory over Carrick Rangers, but will hope to recreate memories of last season when Dean Smith’s side won 3-0 at The Oval, which proved to be Warren Feeney’s final game in charge.

“The defeat at Ballymena on Saturday was a hard one to take because – like the week before in Dungannon – it was very avoidable,” added Devine. “In both games we created plenty of chances from the flanks but didn’t put them away before being hit with a very avoidable goal.

"The one on Saturday showed poor judgement on our behalf for allowing the scorer so much space from a long goal kick. That was down to us and was nothing to do with being down to ten men.

"It was down to poor game intelligence from us, but if we’d taken some of the chances we created it wouldn’t have mattered. That’s three one-nil defeats we’ve had this season and every one of them was down to a completely avoidable goal.

"We have to learn and learn fast. People have to show more courage and game understanding to make sure that doesn't happen late on.

"Loughgall are coming here on the back of a bad defeat at the weekend but they’ve had two or three decent results so far and supporters will remember the last time they were here, just before I came in.

"So we’ll treat them with respect but the important thing is that we get back to winning so that’s the priority for everyone on the staff.”