There’s a full programme of Danske Bank Premiership fixtures this weekend, beginning tonight when David Jeffrey takes his Ballymena side to East Belfast to play Glentoran. Only one place and four points separate the sides with the Glens currently sitting higher in the league but they have played a game more.
Also this weekend, there are important games at both ends of the table as current leaders Coleraine face champions Linfield. Healy’s men are currently in 4th place but have played two games left than all the sides above them but could potentially return to the top tomorrow if they win and Crusaders and Cliftonville both fail to win their respective games.
Warrenpoint have had a miserable start to their league campaign with one win and 11 defeats from 12 games this season so it came as no real shock that they parted company with manager Stephen McDonnell earlier this week and quickly announced the return of former manager Barry Gray who takes charge of tomorrow’s match against Carrick. A win for Niall Currie’s side tomorrow will see them move nine points clear of bottom spot with a game in hand but a win for ‘Point will reduce the gap between the sides to just three points.
The full fixture list for the weekend is as follows, with all games starting at 15:00 unless otherwise stated:-
Glentoran v Ballymena United (tonight at 19:45)
Carrick Rangers v Warrenpoint Town
Cliftonville v Dungannon Swifts
Coleraine v Linfield
Larne v Institute
Glenavon v Crusaders
The full league table currently looks like this:-
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Coleraine | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 30 | 9 | 21 | 26 |
| 2 | Crusaders | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 32 | 13 | 19 | 26 |
| 3 | Cliftonville | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 21 | 8 | 13 | 25 |
| 4 | Linfield | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 30 | 8 | 22 | 24 |
| 5 | Glentoran | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 22 | 19 | 3 | 20 |
| 6 | Ballymena United | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 15 | 4 | 16 |
| 7 | Larne | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 25 | 14 | 11 | 15 |
| 8 | Dungannon Swifts | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 16 | 28 | -12 | 14 |
| 9 | Glenavon | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 28 | -15 | 10 |
| 10 | Carrick Rangers | 11 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 19 | -9 | 9 |
| 11 | Institute | 11 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 28 | -20 | 5 |
| 12 | Warrenpoint Town | 12 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 8 | 45 | -37 | 3 |
In our Writer’s prediction league it is Carrick fan, Adrian, leading the way and in contrasting fortunes from the League of Ireland prediction league Darren finds himself bring up the rear but as you can see below that can change very quickly:-
| 1: Adrian | 47 |
| 2: Rodney | 45 |
| 3: Cameron | 42 |
| 4: Bryan/Keith | 40 |
| 6: Darren | 36 |
Up first this week with their predictions is Cameron, as usual, it’s three points for the correct result and a point for the correct outcome.
Cameron
Glentoran 2-2 Ballymena United
Carrick Rangers 1-0 Warrenpoint Town
Cliftonville 2-0 Dungannon Swifts
Coleraine 1-1 Linfield
Larne 3-0 Institute
Glenavon 0-2 Crusaders
Darren
Glentoran 2-1 Ballymena United
Carrick Rangers 1-0 Warrenpoint Town
Cliftonville 3-0 Dungannon Swifts
Coleraine 0-0 Linfield
Larne 5-0 Institute
Glenavon 2-3 Crusaders
Rodney
Glentoran 2-1 Ballymena United
Carrick Rangers 2-0 Warrenpoint Town
Cliftonville 2-0 Dungannon Swifts
Coleraine 2-1 Linfield
Larne 4-0 Institute
Glenavon 0-3 Crusaders
Adrian
Glentoran 2-2 Ballymena United
Carrick Rangers 2-1 Warrenpoint Town
Cliftonville 3-0 Dungannon Swifts
Coleraine 1-2 Linfield
Larne 4-0 Institute
Glenavon 1-2 Crusaders
Bryan
Glentoran 2-2 Ballymena United
Carrick Rangers 2-0 Warrenpoint Town
Cliftonville 2-0 Dungannon Swifts
Coleraine 1-1 Linfield
Larne 3-0 Institute
Glenavon 1-3 Crusaders
Keith
Glentoran 2-1 Ballymena United
Carrick Rangers 1-1 Warrenpoint Town
Cliftonville 3-1 Dungannon Swifts
Coleraine 1-1 Linfield
Larne 2-2 Institute
Glenavon 0-1 Crusaders
