'It’s a very unlucky blow for a top lad' - Declan Devine backing Glentoran youngster to recover from injury setback ahead of Irish League opener

Devine enters his first full season as Glens boss after being appointed on a permanent basis in the closing stages of last term and has been busy throughout the summer, rebuilding a squad which he hopes will be capable of challenging for major honours.

Opponents Crusaders are also going through a similar revamp with Declan Caddell replacing Stephen Baxter in the dugout after his near two-decade Seaview reign came to an end while Paul Heatley and Ben Kennedy are amongst the big-name departures.

Devine is aware there will be highs and lows throughout the campaign, but has called on everyone associated with Glentoran to stick together as they look to deliver success at The Oval once again.

"I know there will be highs and lows as we move forward but it’s vital that everyone – players, staff and supporters - stick together through both,” he told the club’s website. “If we do, we'll be much stronger and I know from my time here as a player that when everyone at Glentoran pulls together there’s no better place to be.

"It's great to be back to competitive football after a hectic close season. We had a huge turnover in players and a lot of departures in May, but I felt the club and squad needed a serious revamp after a very poor season.

"I’m very happy with the new lads who’ve come in. They bring more quality to us and over the course of pre-season both the new lads and the rest of the squad have fully bought into the to the training regime we’ve implemented and into the values we want to be seen to represent Glentoran from this season on.

"We’re hoping to bring another one or two experienced players into the squad before the window closes, but they’ll need to be absolutely the right type of player in terms of ability, performance and also the ability to buy into our values and expectations."

Devine is set to be without Marcus Kane and last season’s Player of the Year Johnny Russell through injury tonight, while Aaron Wightman will have a longer spell on the sidelines after fracturing his foot.

The 20-year-old has endured a torrid time in recent months – he hasn’t been in action since March and only made 14 Premiership appearances in total last season – but Devine is backing the Northern Ireland youth international to bounce back strongly.

"We have a couple of early season injuries that will impact us on Friday night as both Marcus Kane and Johnny Russell will miss this one,” he added. “Nothing long term though.

"On the other hand, Aaron Wightman very unluckily fractured his foot on his first pre-season game after his operation in April so he’ll be out a bit longer. It’s a very unlucky blow for a top lad and I’m looking forward to him contributing a lot this season.

"Crusaders will be a challenging season opener, but most teams would be after the amount of business most of them have done in the off season. The Crues seem to have bought well and also lost a couple of quality players but they’re a very good squad as their end to last season showed."