Win against Coleraine has given us confidence but we are expecting another tough battle against Ballymena United, says Glenavon goalkeeper Gareth Deane

After three games without picking up a point, Glenavon would have away day joy as David McDaid and Keith Ward netted either side of the half at the Coleraine Showgrounds last weekend.

With the first points firmly in the locker, Stephen McDonnell’s men now go in search of backing that success up against a Ballymena team who have lost all four games to date.

Deane said: "The win against Coleraine has given us confidence.

"We had some positives from the Cliftonville game in the second half and a wee bit of confidence from the Linfield game as well.

"I thought the boys from the first whistle were absolutely outstanding last Saturday.

"The Ballymena game is massive but every game in the Irish League is huge.

"Portadown have signed strong and we've signed strong as well by adding experience to the group."

Deane picked up his first clean sheet of the season at his former stomping ground last weekend thanks to a couple of world-class saves in the first half.

However, the 30-year-old believes the win was down to a complete team performance and that he proved a point to certain people at The Showgrounds who “doubted his ability”.

"There's a couple of people at Coleraine who doubted my ability so coming here keeping a clean sheet and getting the win is bittersweet," he added.

"The fans were brilliant with me so I'd like to thank them for a good response coming out but the best thing for us was the three points.

"I'm just doing my job, I'm just trying to do my job in there.

"Our performances this season haven't been good enough and we've been conceding too many goals.

"The manager told me during the week he wants more clean sheets out of me but I thought the boys in front of me were outstanding and that gives us something to build on.

"I made a couple of saves but the boys at the other end did their jobs as well."