Stephen McDonnell admits 'it is not a good situation' as Glenavon injuries continue to mount ahead of clash with champions Larne
Glenavon manager Stephen McDonnell admits “it is not a good situation” as injuries continue to mount ahead of Tuesday’s clash with reigning Premiership champions Larne.
The Lurgan Blues are coming off a 1-0 weekend victory over Crusaders – summer signing Michael O’Connor netting his first goal for the Mourneview Park outfit – which marked their second success of the campaign, but McDonnell has suffered yet further blows with Keith Ward and James Doona, who both started at Seaview, set to miss the visit of Tiernan Lynch’s Inver Reds.
They join Isaac Baird, Calum Birney, Jamie Doran, Mark Haughey, Harry Lynch, Rhys Marshall and Niall Quinn on the sidelines with the club’s website calling it “the worst injury crisis which the club has faced for many years”.
“It is not a good situation,” said McDonnell. “We are down to the bare bones, but we are not making excuses.
"The team was severely depleted for the match against Crusaders but still managed to win. There is a lot of quality in our squad. We will do our best to give Larne as tough a match as possible.”
Glenavon will be hoping to pick up their first Irish League win over Larne since October 2007 – they are winless in 16 matches since that success and conceded 14 in three Premiership meetings last season, the since-departed Lee Bonis responsible for eight of those.
“Last season they scored fourteen goals against us in three league games,” added McDonnell. “They are in the middle of a successful European campaign and have just beaten Linfield at Windsor Park.
"They could rest all eleven players from Saturday and still field an excellent side. They will be big favourites, but that does not mean that we can’t be competitive. We will do everything we can to get a result.”
Reflecting on Saturday’s win, McDonnell said: “The way we set the team up was very deliberate. With so many bodies out, we had to make it as difficult as possible for the opposition.
"The focus in training was improving our play when out of possession. We wanted to be solid and well organised. It is not, ideally, the approach we want to adopt but sometimes needs must.
"The players, to be fair, were excellent. They carried out the game plan perfectly. They should take a lot of confidence from the performance and result.”