'A chance missed but another encouraging performance'
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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
'We have to expect to win home games'
Glentoran manager Declan Devine says his side must become accustomed to winning their home games as they prepare to host Glenavon at the Oval on Tuesday Glens' home form was disappointing last term but they managed to follow up their 1-0 win on the road against Portadown with a victory by a similar scoreline on their own patch against Premiership new boys Bangor on signing Ryan Cooney scored the only goal of the game in the success over the Seasiders."It's a good start, but we've got to dust down and be ready for Tuesday," reflected Devine in an interview with BBC Sport NI after the match."Every time we play here [at home] we've got to expect to win games. That's something we have to look at now and is something we can do again on Tuesday."It's very early in the season. A lot of clubs, including ourselves, are finding their way. "We have to look to get better than Saturday. I felt that on Saturday we were better than last week and I hope that on Tuesday night we are better than today again."The Glens boss was satisfied with his team's performance against Bangor but expects improvement in attack."Really pleased with the application of the players and how we moved the ball and the control that they put into the game. Just looking for a little more in the final third but that will come."I would have liked a wee bit more penetration, especially the couple of chances we had in the first half. Their keeper made a wonder save from Jordan Stewart."For all the dominance we had I would have liked to add a couple of goals. But it's a new group playing a new way and I have to give every single player that played a lot of credit."Devine is happy with the make-up of his squad."We've assembled a squad but we've high-level players not available. We've a lot of competition, a lot of flexibility and a lot of quality players."I'm a greedy person and I want us to put teams to bed a wee bit earlier. At the same time if you'd have offered me six points from two difficult fixtures I'd have taken it."
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
AFL set for final day of drama this damp squib of a season so desperately needs
A forgettable AFL season has hardly been one for the ages, as months of predictable results and dead rubbers have provided fodder for the easily outraged and wildcard round campaigners. The damp squib has meant the slowest of burns while fans wait for an endless stream of Thursday and Friday night fizzers to pass, and for jeopardy to return. But the season is set to be ignited by do-or-die clashes between premiership fancies arriving a week early, and could even be saved by a finals series to be played out between eight evenly-matched teams. The all-too familiar late-season collapse from Fremantle has set up a winner-takes-all encounter with Western Bulldogs on Sunday, as the AFL pulls off its annual trick of waiting until the final round to get its fixturing right. A day of drama that the season desperately needs will be centred around the showdown between the Dockers and Dogs with the winner to book their place in the finals, while the loser will likely claim an unwanted slice of history. Fremantle could become the first team to miss the top eight with 15 triumphs on the board, and even Western Bulldogs finishing the season with their current 14 victories would claim the record from Collingwood after last year's reigning premiers dropped to ninth with 12 wins and two draws. All that is dependent on Gold Coast finally shaking off their tag as a laughing stock and securing at least one win from their last two matches against Port Adelaide and Essendon that would secure a club-first finals place. The Power have already put the cue in the rack but have shown across 13 seasons under Ken Hinkley that they can feed off emotion as well as any side to pull an unexpected victory out of the bag. The last game of the Power coach's tenure looms as a danger game for the Suns, while the season-long wait to play the postponed match against the now injury-ravaged Bombers should mean the four points are a mere formality if not for the weight of history. Fans have suffered, as has the season as a whole, after a great divide opened up between the nine finals contenders and as many sides stuck in the bottom half of the ladder. The same nine teams have shared the top eight spots since St Kilda dropped out of the finals places after round five and Western Bulldogs finally started to live up to expectations and move the opposite way. Sign up to From the Pocket: AFL Weekly Jonathan Horn brings expert analysis on the week's biggest AFL stories after newsletter promotion The gulf in class has been even more apparent week-to-week than on the ladder, with the top nine sides enjoying a near flawless stretch of matches since round 14 when facing the teams that had by then all but fallen out of contention. In the 45 matches between finals hopefuls and lesser lights since the mid-season bye rounds began, the top-half teams have won 43 times. Sydney were widely expected to be in the mix again but after early injuries to star players and a sluggish start to the season, last year's beaten grand finalists have had to settle for trying to put disappointment aside to become the great disruptor. The Swans have proven to be the best of the rest with impressive wins over the Dockers and Lions that are the outlier for all finals contenders in the second-half of the season, but even they were exposed for being well off the pace when comprehensively beaten by the Cats last Sunday. The Swans are already assured to finish in 10th place which is largely seen as no-man's land under the current finals system but would be enough for the club to still be alive if a wildcard round existed. The contentious finals expansion would mean the 10 remaining games would only hold significance for the shuffling of places rather than deciding which high performer has their season end early. Instead, every finals place is still up for grabs, as well as the dreaded ninth spot that will earn one club a place in the record books. Ladder-leaders Adelaide and perennial contenders Geelong would have to suffer almighty slip ups against the lowly North Melbourne and Richmond respectively, to tumble out of the top-two spots and lose their grip on a home qualifying final. GWS Giants did the hard work to come out on top in a must-win game on the road against Gold Coast and only need to overcome St Kilda at home to perhaps snatch a top-four spot or at least host an elimination final. Reigning premiers Brisbane could finish between second and eighth, depending on the outcome of their match against Hawthorn who could land between third and eighth. Early pacesetters Collingwood are in free fall after five defeats in their past six matches, but could still climb as high as third or drop to eighth with another loss to Melbourne on Friday night. The AFL season has taken the longest of roads to get to this point, but with a dramatic final round now on the cards, as well as the Crows returning to the finals for the first time since 2017 and the Suns on the brink of history, the destination might mean more than the journey.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
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