Glentoran's woes unlikely to be soothed by the visit of fierce rivals Linfield to the Oval

Bet McLean League Cup: Glentoran v Linfield, (Tuesday, the Oval, 7.45pm)

On Tuesday night, David Healy has it within his gift to heap more misery on his predecessor at Windsor Park, Warren Feeney.

Linfield travel to The Oval tonight in superb form for a Bet McLean League Cup showdown, registering a ninth straight victory at the Newry Showgrounds on Saturday.

By contrast, Glentoran have only four wins from their last 10 games and are coming off the back of a 3-2 defeat to Carrick Rangers at The Oval on Saturday.

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All is not well on the Great Eastern Plains and Feeney is on the back foot, not for the first time since joining Glentoran in the summer.

His crime, in the eyes of suspicious Glentoran fans, is his previous association with their bitter rivals in South Belfast.

Feeney grew up supporting the Blues and after a successful career at both club and international level, joined Linfield as player-manager in 2014, succeeding David Jeffrey in the hotseat.

His departure for Newport County the following year left something of a bad taste in the mouth, so when the Glentoran job came up, Feeney had no conflict of loyalty.

However, Glenmen are an unforgiving lot, many took against him before his first game and lay in wait to reappear on the occasion of any defeat, howling in derision at the manager.

Feeney is a very strong character, as is Paul Millar, the man who brought Feeney in as manager, and both had full belief in themselves and the appointment.

This was also the case with Mick McDermott, a man unburdened by self-doubt who was hounded out of the managerial hot seat last January after a string of poor results.

Rodney McAree stepped up to the plate, lifted the team and qualified for Europe before deciding Stangmore Park was a more attractive place to work and returned to his native Dungannon Swifts.

Glentoran arguably have the biggest playing budget in the league but there have been too many upheavals and changes to provide a platform for real success.

The club's financial troubles of the last decade are well documented, then Ali Pour bought the club in 2019 when it was again facing an uncertain future.

The four directors with real power are McDermott, Pour, Millar and Mark Glenfield and are known as the inner circle.

Millar is the only man working hands on at the club and, with business interests elsewhere, he has his hands full.

Former chairman Ian Kerr stepped down this year to be replaced by Colin Jess, while General Manager Desi Curry also left the club this year, to be replaced by Joe McColgan.

Members of staff have come and gone, with some not being replaced adequately as yet.

On the playing front, McDermott's magpie approach in the market left the squad bloated and ill-defined, with many earning wages they would not earn elsewhere and are loath to move on.

Without doubt, Feeney has also had his hands full as he plots to end a 14-year spell without a title success at The Oval.

Meanwhile, across the city, Feeney's former strike partner for Northern Ireland, Healy would say he is always under pressure from the demanding Linfield faithful, and he has felt the heat and ire of blue wrath on more than one occasion.

But right now he is in blue clover. His team has overcome a difficult start to click with a subtle adjustment, Linfield are eight points clear at the top of the Sports Direct Premiership and looking very strong.

After losing the title to Larne last season, Healy's mission was to reclaim the Gibson Cup this year, or face much opprobrium from the stands.

There were question marks about his defence, following Jimmy Callacher's exit for Seaview, and these doubts were proved true dearly on as Linfield conceded 12 goals in their first eight games.

Healy moved to bring Euan East in from Queen of the South and the defence was immediately shored up and provided a springboard for success.

Off the field of play, Linfield had reason to let two players leave the club last week, Jack Scott and John Robertson, and handled the situation most professionally, despite making little public comment.

Neither had played much of a part in the winning run, so you have to give credit to the manager for not allowing his players to lose focus.

As for tonight's game, Linfield are favourites to win the trophy for a reason, but it is not beyond Glentoran to rally and leave the Blues with a bloody nose.

Feeney was sent off on Saturday and will not be in the dugout, but may take heart from the fact that Healy intends to rest several players with one eye on the Larne league showdown on Saturday evening.

“We'll make numerous changes, quite a lot of changes tonight”, said Healy.

“We're down to the bare bones at the minute in terms of squad numbers, so we'll make quite a few changes.

“That's the only way we can get through the games at the minute.

“It's a big game against Glentoran in a cup competition, we go into it in good form and we look forward to it. Hopefully we can progress.”