Mick McDermott urging Glentoran to keep foot on the gas

Mick McDermott has urged Glentoran to keep their foot on the gas as they bid to keep the heat on Danske Bank Premiership leaders Linfield.
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The Glens moved to within a point of the Blues at the summit following Conor McMenamin’s last-gasp winner over Coleraine on Tuesday night.

It was a third win on the spin for the Oval outfit following their victories over Cliftonville and Crusaders in the past week.

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Linfield face a tricky visit to Coleraine today, but McDermott says they are only focusing on themselves as they cannot afford any let up when Warrenpoint Town visit the Oval this afternoon.

Michael O'Connor scored his first goal for Glentoran on Tuesday nightMichael O'Connor scored his first goal for Glentoran on Tuesday night
Michael O'Connor scored his first goal for Glentoran on Tuesday night

“We don’t need any favours, we just need to keep taking care of our own business,” said the Glens boss. “Whatever the scoreboards say come 5pm on a Saturday we’ll deal with, we have to look after ourselves.

“I do look at the table after each round of games asI have to keep tabs on it and I’ll watch the games.

“We prepare for every game the exact same no matter who we are playing.

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“We’ve had a really tough run over this last month coming up against what people would consider to be the top teams.

“But there’s no point coming through that and thinking we can take our foot off the pedal.

“When you’re in this situation you have to put your foot down on the pedal more and try and accelerate more, and we have to do that on Saturday against Warrenpoint.”

McDermott should have a full squad to pick from against the basement boys, but he says any changes will only be made if necessary.

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“Jay and Ruaidhri Donnelly, Shay McCartan, Gael Bigirimana, Marcus Kane and Darren Cole didn’t against Crusaders last Friday or against Coleraine during the week, but they will all come into the reckoning for Saturday,” he said. “That’s why we have a squad and each of them will play a part.

“As I say you can be a hero in 40 matches or a hero in 40 minutes.

“They will all play their part as no doubt there will be a lot of twists and turns still to come in this league.

“It’s a tricky one as players have earned the shirt in the last couple of games and deserve to keep it, but we’ll assess how they feel physically.

“We may have to rotate them.

“But it will be based on our assessment of them in training not just for a general need to rotate.

“If players are up for playing, and they’re fresh and ready to go then they’ll play.”