TOMORROW, we make the trip to Tillysburn Park to take on a Harland & Wolff Welders side smarting from a couple of reversals, since we entered the split and business end of the season.
We only have to think back to our last visit to the East however, to know that these results will count for nothing once the whistle blows to kick things off in earnest.
Norman Kelly will have his charges up for it and there is no shortage of talent in their ranks, including Matthew ‘Spike’ Ferguson who has done very well since his January transfer from the Whites. We will need to start brightly, work hard and dig deep at times if we are to come away with the three points we so crave.
Dependant on results elsewhere, we have the chance of securing the Bluefin Sport Championship with a win. It will be hard, but we can only look after ourselves and see what transpires in other games; if it happens great, if not we’ll go again at home to Ballinamallard in two weeks with the same professional attitude to try and finish the job off.
We are bringing a large travelling contingent to Tillysburn, let’s get behind us, enjoy the day and whatever will be, will be.
Our victory over the Duns last week again saw some sterling performances and a great finish from the uber impressive Ben Tilney. Ben has been so unlucky this season in terms of Man of the Match awards, his performances have been richly deserving on many occasions but the strikers have seemed to just edge him, thankfully not on this occasion and he got the nod over the ‘Magic Hat’ who ran him close with another brace.
Off the pitch it has been a massive week of preparations for the upcoming Tennent’s Irish Cup quarter final tie with holders Coleraine. The game will go down as one of the most famous in our club’s history, with the BBC cameras there to broadcast live from Inver Park for the first time. How good would it feel to come out on top!
I cannot thank our project manager and contractors enough for their efforts in trying to build a 749-seater stand in little over 10 days to accommodate the demands of tickets from our visitors. At the time of writing we are well on our way and with a fair wind Coleraine will be able to release more tickets, we still have a few boxes to tick in relation the health and safety aspect of things so we’re still in the lap of the gods, but fingers crossed.
Volunteers like Jimmy Morton, Sam Penney and Alan Girvin have been the lifeblood of Inver Park for years and are vital to the sustainability of the club. Our volunteer pool is growing, but we are always on the look out for more local talent to help us grow on this amazing journey. I don’t normally single out any one individual for praise but over the last number of weeks and months Gary Hanna has been absolutely unbelievable in the amount of work he has got through. No job is too big or small, most tasks are thankless, hence my reasoning for going public. Thanks Gary, your club appreciate you.
All that remains is for me to wish the management and players all the best tomorrow and that the fans have a fantastic, enjoyable day out.
All we can do is control the controllables…
Regards
Gareth
#WeAreLarne
