SIX points better off than we were this time last week amounts to a profitable seven days, especially given the banana skin nature of both fixtures.
Lisburn Distillery always have the potential to give us an absolute nightmare at New Grosvenor and, for long spells last Saturday, it looked as though our profligacy in front of goal would cost any chance of a win before a sprinkling of inspiration from Rory Donnelly secured a deserved victory.
From a moment of magic to a moment of madness and Glenavon's opening strike on Tuesday night.
I've no idea how many matches I've attended over the years and have even less idea of the amount of goals I've endured us conceding, but I'm fairly certain that was the single most daft one I have ever seen.
What made it all the more bizarre was that, after standing up tall to make a fairly standard save, Ryan Brown appeared to be the only one in the ground who didn't realise the ball was set to drop underneath the crossbar behind him. Ridiculous as it looked, it was fairly evident that Brown had simply miscalculated his bearings and must have thought he was closer to his line than he actually was when he turned the ball over the top – or what he believed would be over the top anyway.
It was a horrible moment for him and he will have been the most relieved man at Solitude when Ciaran Caldwell dragged the Reds level soon later.
To be fair to Brown, he has earned us a fair few points with some fine saves already this season and it's arguable that in every game from which we have claimed a Premiership point, he has made a telling contribution – excellent stops against Carrick Rangers, Coleraine and Distillery bear testament to that.
Hopefully he'll have blanked Tuesday night from his system by the time Cliftonville reach The Oval this coming weekend.
Glentoran have enjoyed a similar start to the season as the Reds but, having defeated Linfield last Saturday, they were disappointed to claim just a draw against Coleraine in midweek.
Scott Young has not been shy in berating his side for a failure to make the most of home advantage throughout his tenure and he'll ensure they're sufficiently pumped up to put the record straight when Cliftonville come calling.
Solitude Reds, North Belfast Reds and Social Reds CSCs will all be running transport to the game, departing Cliftonville Street and Cassidy's Bar at approximately 2.15pm.
www.cliftonvillefc.net
