The last week or so things have been so focused on how tight things are at the top of the Danske Bank Premiership that it’s easy to forget things are just as interesting down at the bottom.
After a 1-1 draw for Warrenpoint against Glenavon on Saturday and a heavy 3-0 defeat against Carrick Rangers for Institute the bottom two sides are now level on points, Stute hold the narrow advantage of having a better goal difference.
Dungannon Swifts are also hovering precariously over the relegation zone as they are now closer to the bottom than the side directly above them in the table, having topped the league at one point in the early days of the season it’s now one win in 13 for Kris Lindsay’s side. On Sunday the Swifts announced that they had parted company with Chris Wright and Peter Kennedy, assistant manager and first-team coach respectively, and if things don’t improve soon Lindsay could fear for his own position.
The current Danske Bank Premiership table looks like this:-
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Cliftonville | 22 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 39 | 15 | 24 | 47 |
| 2 | Linfield | 21 | 14 | 2 | 5 | 43 | 16 | 27 | 44 |
| 3 | Coleraine | 23 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 48 | 22 | 26 | 44 |
| 4 | Glentoran | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 47 | 25 | 22 | 44 |
| 5 | Crusaders | 23 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 53 | 23 | 30 | 43 |
| 6 | Larne | 22 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 39 | 22 | 17 | 32 |
| 7 | Glenavon | 22 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 35 | 50 | -15 | 27 |
| 8 | Ballymena United | 23 | 7 | 5 | 11 | 30 | 36 | -6 | 26 |
| 9 | Carrick Rangers | 22 | 8 | 1 | 13 | 28 | 32 | -4 | 25 |
| 10 | Dungannon Swifts | 22 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 25 | 64 | -39 | 18 |
| 11 | Institute | 23 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 18 | 51 | -33 | 13 |
| 12 | Warrenpoint Town | 23 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 16 | 65 | -49 | 13 |
Tomorrow the New Year starts with a full programme of fixtures in the top flight with the following games all taking place at 15:00:-
Ballymena United v Larne
Carrick Rangers v Coleraine
Cliftonville v Glenavon
Dungannon Swifts v Glentoran
Linfield v Institute
Warrenpoint Town v Crusaders
In our Writer’s Prediction League, Cameron has managed to move back into top spot thanks to picking up six points at the weekend to Rodney’s four but as always anything can happen so stay tuned. Here is the full leaderboard going into tomorrow’s games:-
| 1: Cameron | 83 |
| 2: Rodney | 82 |
| 3: Adrian/Bryan/Darren | 75 |
| 6: Keith | 64 |
This week Crusaders supporter, Darren, gets us started with his predictions and as always it is three points for a correct result and a point for a correct outcome.
Darren
Ballymena United 0-1 Larne
Carrick Rangers 1-1 Coleraine
Cliftonville 3-0 Glenavon
Dungannon Swifts 0-5 Glentoran
Linfield 2-0 Institute
Warrenpoint Town 2-3 Crusaders
Adrian
Ballymena United 0-2 Larne
Carrick Rangers 1-1 Coleraine
Cliftonville 3-1 Glenavon
Dungannon Swifts 0-3 Glentoran
Linfield 4-0 Institute
Warrenpoint Town 0-2 Crusaders
Rodney
Ballymena United 2-2 Larne
Carrick Rangers 1-2 Coleraine
Cliftonville 2-0 Glenavon
Dungannon Swifts 1-3 Glentoran
Linfield 3-0 Institute
Warrenpoint Town 0-4 Crusaders
Bryan
Ballymena United 1-1 Larne
Carrick Rangers 0-2 Coleraine
Cliftonville 2-1 Glenavon
Dungannon Swifts 0-3 Glentoran
Linfield 3-0 Institute
Warrenpoint Town 0-3 Crusaders
Cameron
Ballymena United 0-2 Larne
Carrick Rangers 1-3 Coleraine
Cliftonville 4-1 Glenavon
Dungannon Swifts 0-4 Glentoran
Linfield 4-0 Institute
Warrenpoint Town 0-4 Crusaders
Keith
Ballymena United 0-0 Larne
Carrick Rangers 0-0 Coleraine
Cliftonville 0-0 Glenavon
Dungannon Swifts 0-0 Glentoran
Linfield 0-0 Institute
Warrenpoint Town 0-0 Crusaders
We have no content going out tomorrow so on behalf of the entire team at overtheturnstile.uk we would like to wish all our readers and their families a very peaceful and happy New Year, here’s to a great 2020 and a great decade on and off the pitch!!!
We will return on Thursday when Adrian brings us his monthly roundup on all things Carrick Rangers and pays tribute to Jerry Thompson and I will be taking a look at Lisburn Distillery’s 2019-20 season so far.
