Danske Bank Premiership: Warrenpoint Town v Glentoran (Saturday, 3pm)
GLENTORAN midfielder Stephen McAlorum says it’s time for the players to “man up” and forget about the managerial void left by Eddie Patterson.
Despite recording back-to-back wins over Carrick Rangers (League Cup and Premiership) and drawing with Linfield, the Glens board sacked Patterson last weekend. The east Belfast club lie in seventh place, just a point worse off from this time last season.
H&W Welders boss Gary Smyth has ruled himself out of the running to become Glentoran’s next manager, while there were wildly speculative rumours suggesting former Manchester United winger Andrei Kanchelskis was interested in the job. The former Russian international wants to cut his managerial teeth and was linked to the Derry City vacancy recently.
Former boss Roy Coyle will take the reins on an interim basis. While lamenting Patterson’s departure, McAlorum insisted the Glentoran players have to keep their focus on the games at hand.
“I’d be friendly enough with Eddie,” said the 29-year-old midfielder.
“No-one likes to see a guy losing their job. But as footballers, we can’t do anything about it. It’s out of our control. All we can do is win games and get Glentoran up the table and compete for trophies. I experienced the same thing at DC; managers come and go and you get used to it. As a footballer, you have to block all that out.”
He added: “Our season has been very stop-start. One week, we’re brilliant and, the next, we’re poor. We beat Portadown one week and then we lost to Ballinamallard. It seems to be one step forward and two steps back. The last couple of weeks we’ve done well, though. We picked up a draw at Windsor and we won back-to-back games and hopefully we can get a result against Warrenpoint tomorrow.”
The former Donegal Celtic ace acknowledged the team probably prefer playing away from home after an erratic start to their campaign and growing dissent from the stands.
“There’s maybe a wee bit of pressure off us when we go away from home. But that’s something we have to look at ourselves. We have to man up and take the pressure, take the flak and produce the goods," he added.
“Glentoran fans can be hostile at times, but if they see you trying and playing for the badge they appreciate that. We’ve been beaten by teams this season and been applauded off by the fans for our work rate. They want to see effort from us.”
Since arriving at The Oval four years ago, the west Belfast man has won two Irish Cups and believes the squad of players at the club are capable of challenging for more silverware this season, despite the managerial upheaval.
“We’re seventh and a point off sixth place. It’s still very tight. If you win a few games, you’re right up there again. We’re only a point off where we were at this stage last season. We know we’ve got good players in the squad and we can compete with anyone on our day,” he said.
Meanwhile, league leaders Linfield host Carrick Rangers on Saturday afternoon, while champions Crusaders are at home to Glenavon. Cliftonville travel to Coleraine as the Reds continue their resurgence under new manager Gerard Lyttle.
