Danske Bank Premireship:Warrenpoint Town v Ballinamallard United (Friday, Milltown, 7.45pm)
WARRENPOINT TOWN boss Barry Gray has heaped praise on his players for showing signs of a revival at the bottom of the Danske Bank Premiership.
The county Down men have won their last three league games and are unbeaten in their last six. Up until last month, Warrenpoint were being written off as relegation certainties. However, a high-risk move of allowing the club’s “best player” Daniel Hughes to leave for Cliftonville and Reds winger Marty Murray going in the opposite direction has given Warrenpoint a great chance of avoiding the drop.
“There was the risk of transferring your best player and how people would perceive that move,” Gray said.
“It wasn’t something we decided on overnight. Daniel didn’t work for us this season and we didn’t work for him, for whatever reason… Daniel was our top earner and for me to take in three or four players I had to offset that, for pure business reasons. You look at players in your panel that aren’t lighting it up or not doing what they’re supposed to be doing and Daniel was one of those players.
“There were also other players, but we also made a commitment to Daniel in the summer if it wasn’t working for him at Warrenpoint we would consider getting him to somewhere that was right for him too.”
Frustrated on the fringes of Cliftonville’s first team, Marty Murray decided to try a loan spell with Warrenpoint and has led the club’s revival with six goals: “You look to see who’s on the fringes of other teams and who’s not getting game-time,” said Gray.
“Cliftonville were interested in Daniel and Warrenpoint was interested in getting players in rather than a financial deal for the club. We were delighted when Marty Murray was part of those discussions. If it might have been other players, we wouldn’t have been just as interested. He suits our style and we were aware of what he could do.
“Now, some players are only good at coming on for 20 minutes, but we never thought that about Marty. We knew there was more to him. We knew he could go straight into the team and he’s scored six goals already for us.”
They're still three points adrift at the bottom, but ‘Point will hope to cut that deficit when they face Ballinamallard United, Dungannon Swifts and Carrick Rangers over the next eight days. Now in their third season in senior football, Warrenpoint have always found themselves at the wrong end of the table.
Gray admits the club’s perennial struggles has had an eroding effect on everyone at Milltown: “You invest so much time and effort into it and, when it was coming to a Saturday, you were getting nothing out of it,” he added.
“It’s not easy, especially over a long period of time. And even with the good run we’re having now, you’re thinking: what’s happened? Daniel has gone out and Marty has come in. The players are largely the same. You’re saying to the players: ‘What took youse so long?’ because we haven’t changed our formation, we haven’t changed our training, we haven’t changed our management style. It just goes to show what confidence and momentum can do to a group of players.”
Attracting better players, Gray says, has been difficult, but sees that trend slowly changing: “To try and attract a player to Warrenpoint, geographically, was a challenge but, the more familiar people become with Warrenpoint, players don’t see it as big a risk.
“In fairness, it comes to a financial point where we can’t compete, but at least we’re getting to step two and step three with those players, whereas previously we weren’t.”
As for their survival prospects, the long-serving manager said: “We’ve definitely given ourselves a chance now.
"We have a massive eight days - we have Ballinamallard, Dungannon and Carrick. I’ve told the boys that there is no point in beating Portadown, Coleraine and Glentoran if we don’t beat the teams around us.”
DANSKE BANK PREMIERSHIP STATS
Ballymena United v Coleraine
Coleraine’s early season form has eluded them, having lost their last three league games and crashed out of the Irish Cup. The erratic Braid men have conceded the most goals in the league, but are still scoring plenty.
Odds: H:7/4 D:12/5 A:13/10
Prediction: Draw
Crusaders v Glenavon
The Crues have recovered well from their Christmas blip and are five points clear of Linfield. Glenavon are in brilliant goalscoring form and haven’t lost a league game since November. The Lurgan Blues could be good enough for a share of the spoils.
Odds: H:4/7 D:11/4 A:4/1
Prediction: Draw
Portadown v Linfield
The Ports are still in the Irish Cup, but they remain one of the most inconsistent teams in the division. The free-scoring Blues, meanwhile, are now top scorers with 61 goals. They have momentum on their side.
Odds: H:3/1 D:11/4 A:8/11
Prediction: Linfield
Warrenpoint v Ballinamallard United
Ballinamallard scored a rare league win last time out over Ballymena and are better than recent results suggest. They’re running into a Warrenpoint side who are on fire. The Fermanagh men could be pulled into the relegation mire after Friday night’s clash.
Odds: H:1/1 D:12/5 A:9/4
Prediction: Warrenpoint
