Gary Hamilton happy as Glenavon show their mettle

Not only did the Lurgan Blues have to battle the horrible weather conditions on the Antrim coast, but they also had to see the game out with ten men after Lee McNulty was dismissed.

They showed their character to kick on again after Caoloan Loughran and Lloyd Anderson had cancelled out Colin Coated and Conor McCloskey’s early goal for the visitors.

Peter Campbell and Michael O’Connor restored their two-goal advantage before Loughran found the net again with 20 minutes to go, but Glenavon held firm much to Hamilton’s delight.

“We knew when we came down and saw the conditions it was going to be a battle,” said the Lurgan Blues boss.

“We came down here last season and deservedly got turned over 6-2.

“We’ve had difficult games with Carrick over the years, Niall has come in and got them organised.

“They’re a big physical side and they are really difficult to play against, especially at home, as Linfield found out recently.

“We knew we needed to show character, I asked the boys before the game if they had it, and to be fair I thought they showed it in abundance up until about the 44th minute.

“I thought we totally dominated the first half and then we switched off.

“We let them get in behind us and put a ball into the box, and then it’s a goal.

“It was totally against the run of play, but you know in football when you get that goal before half time it gives them something to hold on to.

“The manager is able to give them a talk at the break and it gives them a lift.

“They came out at the start of the second half and got their equaliser.

“Again I’m standing on the sideline questioning the character, but the boys stood up again and went back in front again.

“There were a couple of ridiculous refereeing decisions today which made life a bit more difficult for us than it should have been.

“McNulty’s tackle happened right in front of us and it was never a sending off in a million years.

“All of a sudden you go down to ten men and it makes it difficult in the conditions and they’ve got that extra player.

“They get their third from a set piece, it’s always difficult when you go down to ten men because they have an extra player in the box.

“We had to hand in there for the last 15 or 20 minutes, we had to show a bit of mettle and resolve, I thought we did that in abundance, that was the most pleasing thing for me.

“We could have crumbled and let them back in to draw the game or even go and win it, but we didn’t.

“The boys at the back stood firm to the challenge and in my opinion we came away deserved winners.”

Hamilton wants his players to ‘go again’ tonight when up against the threat of a new manager bounce at Dungannon Swifts.

The postponement of Saturday’s visit to Portadown by the Swifts has left Dixie Robinson with home comfort for his first game as interim boss following the exit last week of Kris Lindsay.

Although Hamilton is aware of the traditional risk, he remains keen to focus only on building from his own players’ weekend win over Carrick Rangers.

“They have a new manager in now and this will be his first game,” said Hamilton.

“You always hate playing a team like that because you usually see a lift in performance.

“Over my time at Glenavon I’ve seem to have come across it a fair bit.

“It is what it is though and we’ll go again and try to pick up another three points.

“They are all tough games...they’ve had a break on Saturday, which makes it difficult for us as we’ve played 20-30 minutes with 10 men (against Carrick).

“We’ve done more running so it will be difficult on Tuesday no matter who we play.”

Hamilton also had praise for the welcome recent return of winger Andy Hall - and his weekend versatility to aid the Glenavon cause.

“Andy hasn’t played in a long time,” said Hamilton. “So for him to come in at right-back for the suspended Sean Ward, I thought he was tremendous.”

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