Tonight's Irish Premiership clash between Cliftonville and Glentoran has been postponed due to players being on international duty.
Glentoran made the request to the Northern Ireland Football League to call the Solitude match off and it was agreed last night.
The Reds, fifth in the table, currently sit five behind the Glens having played an extra game but victory would have kept them on the coat tails of the chasing pack at the top of the Irish League.
Paddy McLaughlin’s side have won eight and drawn six of their 16 fixtures during a busy start to 2021, with defeats to Linfield earlier this month and tonight’s opponents – thanks to a long-range screamer in the dying seconds – the only losses in the past three months.
With injuries mounting up, a trying schedule has stretched the north Belfast club’s squad but a draw at Larne was followed by Saturday’s victory over second-placed Coleraine.
Goals from Jamie Harney and Paul O'Neill gave Cliftonville a 2-0 lead before Ben Doherty's penalty offered the Bannsiders hope on a weekend when their title ambitions suffered a double body blow, table-topping Linfield’s victory over Portadown compounding the disappointment of their own defeat at Solitude.
With three wins on the bounce, though, Glentoran are one of the form sides in the league at the minute, and despite the Reds clash being postponed tonight, they will be hoping former Reds striker Jay Donnelly can continue his goalscoring form in the upcoming Premiership games.
The ex-Cliftonville man - who joined the Glens last September - landed the last-gasp winner against Crusaders on Saturday, producing a clever lob to leave Sean O’Neill stranded and bag another crucial three points at the death.
Next up, Cliftonville will face Warrenpoint away on Saturday with the Glens set for a home tie against Portadown.
With only two points separating the Glens and Coleraine, MIck McDermott won’t want any more slip-ups between now and the season’s end.
Oran Kearney’s Coleraine side will be determined to bounce back from Saturday’s Irish Premiership setback against Larne at The Showgrounds (7.30pm).
Defeat to the Reds left Coleraine 10 points behind the Blues in top spot, albeit with two games in hand on David Healy’s Gibson Cup holders.
Carrick Rangers will be unable to call on Cathair Friel for their clash with his former side Ballymena United (7.45pm). It was part of the agreement between Carrick and Ballymena when the striker signed for Niall Currie’s strugglers that Friel would not feature in the remaining games between the teams.
New Dungannon Swifts boss Dean Shiels cut a frustrated figure in the wake of Saturday’s 5-1 defeat to Ballymena, not least because he was informed the night before the game that captain Dougie Wilson had signed a pre-contract agreement with the Braidmen.
However, they will have to move on from that episode as soon as possible if he is to lift spirits once more, as his bottom of the table Swifts welcome an inconsistent Glenavon side to Stangmore Park (7.45pm).
With four defeats from their last five games, both Portadown and Crusaders (7.45pm) are both struggling to find any form, with the Crues’ poor run threatening to leave them outside the top six unless they get back to winning ways soon.
