Articles by Patrick Van Dort

Technology

'Go and be brave' - Michael O'Connor's rally cry to follow up spectacular end to Irish League 11-game losing run with 'standards they've set'

That’s the ambition of Glenavon manager Michael O’Connor in the aftermath of marking his first Premiership game in charge by bringing to an end the 11-game losing streak. A memorable 1-0 win over Carrick Rangers must now become more than the ‘new manager bounce’ as the Lurgan Blues bid to mount a rise out of the relegation zone that sits after 12 fixtures with O’Connor’s squad chasing an eight-point deficit having played two games more than those above. O’Connor, a former Northern Ireland international can draw on significant playing experience in England and a concentrated plan since returning home to climb the coaching ladder towards a role as main man in the dug-out. That defeat of Carrick was constructed off a single team session in the aftermath of O’Connor’s appointment and now, armed with a full week’s training schedule, Glenavon make the short journey to tackle Dungannon Swifts. "That's the standards they've set themselves and we cannot let it drop below now,” said O’Connor, who feels “I’ve earned my stripes” off a coaching path towards his first senior boss role. "When you've lost 11 (league) games you're low on confidence, you want to keep the ball away from your goal. "But as we go on and, hopefully, pick up more points we'll start getting more around in possession with how we want to play. "I watched the other week's Portadown game and as soon as they (Portadown) scored everyone's heads dropped...they looked scared, they looked nervous. "I told them (before facing Carrick) I don't care if you give the ball away as along as you do the right things. "Go and be brave, go get on the ball, go run in behind, go win your battles...they did everything. “I ​did think we looked dangerous (against Carrick), a few moments where the final ball couldn't make it look like a big chance...that will come with confidence and more wins will start players believing. "I've been involved in teams where you've lost seven, eight, nine, 10 games on the bounce. "The only way you can get out of it is by sticking together and keep working hard.”

Technology

'Changing the narrative' response as experienced Irish League manager reacts to shock defeat

With four wins and the same number of defeats before last weekend’s trip to Lurgan, inconsistency appeared the only consistent from Carrick’s early-season Premiership programme. However, the form book suggested Baxter would follow up his midweek milestone 1,000th game in Irish League management with victory over a Glenavon side bottom still searching for a way to stop the rot and secure a first point of the top-tier schedule. But a 1-0 reverse has led to Baxter searching for solutions to last Saturday’s problems before playing host to Cliftonville. "We were great at other places and didn't get anything from a game,” said Baxter. "We were trying three or four different shapes (at Glenavon), we were writing shapes down from 15 minutes in the second half, trying to do something different, trying to change the flow of the game – and there was nothing. "And that's not like us, because in every game this season we've been on top for periods where we've looked like we will get a goal and we've been threatening and got goals. "In football, no matter what the game, when you lose you pinpoint what you think went wrong...then you have to very quickly assess what your players are doing, what you've got out of people and if you need to think of making changes, you do it. "And then you have to always then prepare for the next game and that's the cycle of football. "You have to try and get into a way of changing the narrative all the time.”