Stephen McDonnell looking Glenavon to build on unbeaten momentum ahead of second meeting in four days with Coleraine

McDonnell has masterminded a six-game unbeaten league run, including Saturday’s 1-1 draw against the Bannsiders, which has helped propel the Mourneview Park outfit from bottom of the Premiership table up to eighth and level on points with Loughgall.

He has only lost five of his 14 matches since taking over from Gary Hamilton – four to teams currently in the top-six and a Mid-Ulster Cup semi-final defeat against Dungannon Swifts last month – as Glenavon continue to show an improved level.

They’ve made it to the last-eight by defeating Dergview and Limavady United – two of their more unconvincing displays under the 31-year-old – and McDonnell is determined to bring their weekend form into an important midweek fixture.

"We haven't performed well in any Tuesday night game since we've been here,” he said. "We've always been flat but we've managed to get results.

"We can't afford to put in the same performance as we did against Limavady last week or we'll be absolutely wasting our time travelling to Coleraine. We need to go and show what we showed on Saturday and hopefully we can keep 11 players on the pitch.

"We hadn't got a point off a top six team until Saturday. We're just making those little steps of progression week on week.

"Our lads are buzzing and rightly so as they've emptied themselves with 10 men and got a worthy draw.

"I'm delighted with that but we park it now and move forward.”

McDonnell was able to welcome back Calum Birney from injury on Saturday with the defender proving to be Glenavon’s hero with a last-gasp equaliser while club captain Mark Haughey could be soon set for his return after missing the past 12 months.

Injuries have forced Conor Kerr to start the last nine matches in a previously unfamiliar centre-back role and McDonnell was full of praise for the impact he’s had over recent weeks.

"We've had to make a centre-back out of Conor Kerr, who now looks more like a centre-back than a full-back in my opinion,” he added. "He's given us a real headache and deserves to keep his place in the team.

"Having Calum and Sean's (Ward) experience back in amongst it is great and you can't underestimate having our skipper Mark Haughey back training on the pitch again and hopefully he will be back in action in the new year.

"We're talking about three big names in terms of the Irish League who have gone and done it, so for them to return with us being in a good moment is absolutely huge – they are like new signings.”

It’s set to be a busy period for Irish League clubs with an array of league and cup matches on the horizon, but McDonnell is confident his squad will be able to deal with the workload.

"I don't think the games will catch up with us, absolutely not,” he said. “We're footballers and the most important day of the week is matchday.

"The lads love it – they would take a game over training every day of the week to save them listening to my voice.

"We won't use that as an excuse. The lads are fit and raring to go, we've a full bench that's ready to be used. We've a couple who didn't make the squad that will probably come in for Tuesday.

"We'll maximise the squad and go for it. It's two games a week and you should be able to do that at this level.”