One of the buoys

Jim Magilton says that both Cliftonville and Glentoran have every right to feel buoyed about the opening month of the season ahead of the sides locking horns at The Oval this weekend.

The Reds head east having registered 10 points from four Sports Direct Premiership outings and, though the Glens were defeated by Crusaders on the opening night, they have clocked up seven points from three games since then and head home on the back of an impressive away victory over Carrick Rangers last time out.

“It’s a tough place to go,” said Magilton of his team’s mission.

“They had a great result last week. I watched the game and they’ll be buoyed with confidence going into this one, but so will we.

“I expect both teams to go into this game feeling confident about how they have started the season.

“Obviously, we analyse and dissect our own matches and look at where we are, how we can improve and things like that but, overall, in terms of where we are, I think we can be pretty pleased.

“The three matches that we won, we feel we could have played better in them but, at the end of the day, we won the matches and that’s the most important thing. I wouldn’t say we were unhappy with the draw against Crusaders last week, but we know we could have won it with a little more care at times, especially in the final third.

“All Managers and teams will say the same thing about the little things that make the differences in games and, as much as there are things we’re all working hard on, overall I think we can be happy with what we’ve done so far.”

Glentoran v Cliftonville
Saturday, August 31 (3pm)
Adults: £13
Concessions: £9
Tickets: General Sale