Glentoran hoping for a change of fortune as they return to Seaview

The Glens have only recorded one win in their last 19 League visits to the north Belfast venue since it was changed to an artificial surface.

Add to that their midweek County Antrim Shield inal defeat to Larne at the same venue shows that Seaview has not been a happy hunting ground of late for the Oval outfit.

Head Coach Mick McDermott questioned the decision to hold the game there in the run up to the final and on Thursday he let his feelings be know again saying: “This is not about me, it’s about football. Decisions like that damages the game.”

Speaking ahead of today’s League game McDermott stood by his comments.

“Don’t take my words to raise conflict, take my words to ask questions,” he said.

“I’m not here to create conflict, I’m here raise questions.

“I’m not here to create conflict, but if I have to go to war every week, I’ll do it for the betterment of football and to protect players.

“It’ about the game and it’s about players and fans.

“It’s not about men in suits sitting in offices and making decisions.”

McDermott said he was disappointed not to win the final but said they “got what they wanted” out of the game.

“It was a final, you always want to win it,” he said.

“The positives for us, was we got what we wanted from the game.

“We put a side out against a full-strength Larne side, so we got game minutes for a lot of players who haven’t played a lot lately.

“We got Mal Smith his first competitive game against strong opponents. We wanted to test him in that environment. I think he’ll be one of the best full backs in the league in future years, he’s still only 19.

“I also thought Joe Crowe was excellent, though he missed a penalty in the shootout. So, playing-wise, we got what I wanted.”

The Crues will be relieved to be back at home as their away woes continued at Glenavon last week.

They slipped to their eighth defeat in ten on the road and boss Stephen Baxter wasn’t impressed.

“When you lose 3-1 away from home and play the way we did in the second half you don’t deserve anything out of a football match,” he said.

“It wasn’t a good day at the office for us, we didn’t do enough to get anything out of the game.

“Glenavon ran out worthy winners, they were hungrier and livelier.”