There was something of a novelty during the week as all four Danske Bank Premiership matches that were scheduled to take place actually managed to go ahead!
The recent freezing weather conditions have caused havoc with an already tight Premiership schedule and it will be interesting to see how the recently postponed games are fitted in but on Tuesday we were treated to four games with nine goals being scored.
In the game being streamed live on BBC Sport NI goals from Conor McMemamin, Hrvoje Plum and Jay Donnelly saw Glentoran through against Portadown, this victory moved Mick McDermott’s side into the top half of the table. The Ports were down to ten men for most of the game after Greg Hall was sent off for a hand ball, they did manage to pull a goal back through a Lee Bonis strike early in the second half but there was to be no comeback and that makes it nine games without a win for Matthew Tipton’s side who fall to 11th place and will be grateful that there is no relegation.
Elsewhere, Carrick continued their recent upturn in form with a point away to Glenavon, it was the home side who scored first through Michael O’Connor but Caolan Loughran brought the visitors level from the penalty spot after Alex Gawne’s shot was handled on the line by Sean Ward, with the Glenavon player being duly sent off. This moved Niall Currie’s side up to 10th place with Glenavon remaining in 8th spot.
Lyndon Kane scored the only goal of the game as Coleraine managed to come away from their derby game against Ballymena with a win, defeat meant David Jeffrey’s side dropped into the bottom half of the able and while The Bannsiders remain 4th they did put some distance between themselves and Cliftonville and are behind Crusaders only due to goal difference.
In the final game on Tuesday night Dungannon did manage to get a point against Warrenpoint but it was not enough to move them off bottom spot, nor was it enough for manager Kris Lindsay as it was announced last night that he had left the club by mutual consent becoming the first managerial change of the season.
Former Dungannon player, Dixie Robinson has taken charge until the end of the season. Robinson was previously manager of the Swifts between May 2009 to December 2011 and guided the club to a top half finish in that time and was currently working with the club as their Head of Youth Development. His first task will simply be to lift the Swifts off the foot of the table and push them as far up as he can, given whoever takes charge next season the best chance of improving possible.
Here is how the league table currently looks: –
| POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Linfield | 17 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 44 | 20 | 24 | 38 |
| 2 | Larne | 18 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 33 | 16 | 17 | 36 |
| 3 | Crusaders | 18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 35 | 23 | 12 | 30 |
| 4 | Coleraine | 17 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 26 | 19 | 7 | 30 |
| 5 | Cliftonville | 19 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 29 | 24 | 5 | 26 |
| 6 | Glentoran | 16 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 26 | 15 | 11 | 24 |
| 7 | Ballymena United | 16 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 22 | 17 | 5 | 23 |
| 8 | Glenavon | 15 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 22 | 25 | -3 | 18 |
| 9 | Warrenpoint Town | 17 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 15 | 29 | -14 | 17 |
| 10 | Carrick Rangers | 15 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 14 | 32 | -18 | 12 |
| 11 | Portadown | 17 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 18 | 38 | -20 | 12 |
| 12 | Dungannon Swifts | 17 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 10 | 36 | -26 | 12 |
This weekend is an interesting one at the bottom end of the table as all three bottom teams ar separated only by goal difference with Dungannon making the trip to play Portadown and Carrick hosting Glenavon in the reverse of the fixture played on Tuesday night. Dungannon will be hoping to get their new regime off to a positive start and know that anything other than a defeat could move them off bottom spot.
Ballymena are at home to Crusaders tonight in the first of two games being covered by the BBC this weekend, Ballymena dropped into the bottom half during the week but a win tonight would see them move back up to 5th place at least until tomorrow and Crusaders will need a win to try and remain in 3rd place beyond the weekend and put some pressure on the top two.
Here is the full Danske Bank Premiership fixture list, all games kick off at 15:00 unless otherwise stated: –
Ballymena United v Crusaders (Friday 19th February at 19:30 – streamed live on BBC Sport NI)
Carrick Rangers v Glenavon
Cliftonville v Larne
Portadown v Dungannon Swifts
Warrenpoint Town v Glentoran
Linfield v Coleraine (Saturday 20th February at 17:30 – streamed live on BBC Sport NI)
Up first this week with his predictions is Institute supporter, Richard. As usual, it’s three points for a correct result and a point for a correct outcome: –
Richard
Ballymena United 2-0 Crusaders
Carrick Rangers 0-0 Glenavon
Cliftonville 2-0 Larne
Portadown 4-0 Dungannon Swifts
Warrenpoint Town 2-0 Glentoran
Linfield 2-0 Coleraine
Rodney
Ballymena United 1-2 Crusaders
Carrick Rangers 2-1 Glenavon
Cliftonville 1-2 Larne
Portadown 2-2 Dungannon Swifts
Warrenpoint Town 1-3 Glentoran
Linfield 3-1 Coleraine
Adrian
Ballymena United 0-2 Crusaders
Carrick Rangers 3-1 Glenavon
Cliftonville 1-1 Larne
Portadown 2-1 Dungannon Swifts
Warrenpoint Town 0-3 Glentoran
Linfield 2-1 Coleraine
Darren
Ballymena United 0-0 Crusaders
Carrick Rangers 2-1 Glenavon
Cliftonville 1-1 Larne
Portadown 2-2 Dungannon Swifts
Warrenpoint Town 1-2 Glentoran
Linfield 1-2 Coleraine
Cameron
Ballymena United 1-3 Crusaders
Carrick Rangers 1-0 Glenavon
Cliftonville 1-2 Larne
Portadown 2-1 Dungannon Swifts
Warrenpoint Town 0-3 Glentoran
Linfield 2-2 Coleraine
