'Massive' Irish League dog-fight message as manager calls for February form follow-up

​Peter Campbell’s free-kick finish in the final stages last weekend against Portadown left the Glenavon response to defeat by Larne on March 20 a precious point to climb off the bottom in the battle against top-flight relegation.

Glenavon make a trip to Ballymena tonight before hitting the road this weekend against Bangor.

Results from this three-game sequence inside a week could prove significant as a set-up before playing host to relegation rivals Crusaders on April 18 in the penultimate Premiership match.

With the spotlight burning ever-brighter over these closing stages of the season, O’Connor accepts managing players off the pitch is proving as crucial as performances on the pitch.

“We don't want to overload them with too much information...it's really just keeping them on their toes and keeping the fitness up,” said O’Connor of preparations over the extra time before Portadown then quick turnaround before Ballymena and Bangor. “The boys have done well the last two weeks of training...I think it's just about recovering.

"We'll get them in Monday, recover, we'll look at Ballymena on Monday and go through a few things, then Tuesday...another game next Saturday.

"So the three-game week, there's nine points available.”

February’s Irish League fixture list provided a return of seven points from the same week-long challenge against the same opposition of Bangor, Ballymena and Portadown.

“It's massive,” said O’Connor. “Last time we'd done that against the same teams we picked up seven points.

"And that's why we're in this situation now where we're sitting 11th.

"It's important we get back to an unbeaten run.

"We went four unbeaten before Larne beat us so the message to the boys now is go on another unbeaten run.

“I think the Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday games you have to look around the squad.

"Not every player's going to play every minute...we've got a really strong bench, a strong squad.”