David Healy heading into Glentoran derby happy to face fixture run

The Blues line out against Glentoran in the middle of three home Premiership tests inside seven days against key rivals.

A scoreless draw on Saturday with Coleraine has left Linfield clear in top spot over Friday’s opponents Larne by three points having played one game fewer.

Glentoran trail Linfield by 15 points in the top-flight table but with two games in hand to push up the standings.

“I spoke to the players and there is no motivational talks from me going into Tuesday night,” said Healy. “It’s a derby game, it’s Glentoran and we will be ready for it.

“Glentoran should be fresh having not played on Saturday and their fitness levels should be pretty high.

“We’re going into the game after slogging it out with a really good Coleraine team and Glentoran should be a lot fresher.

“The huge amount of money that Glentoran have brought into the league and spent, it must be in the region of £150,000 to £200,000 on transfer fees alone from last January or before...so Glentoran are getting stronger.

“They probably should be a little bit higher in the league table at the minute so we know the challenge ahead of us.

“We are up against a formidable opponent on Tuesday night and rightly so with the amount of money invested in their squad.

“I know people are jumping on the bandwagon about the weather and games being postponed and whatever else...I’m the opposite, I want to play as many games as possible.

“We’re in a privileged position to be able to play games and as a club, we have tried to do everything we can to maximise the opportunity to play as many games as possible.

“There probably is a lot made of the Saturday/Tuesday games.

“I’m sure players would rather play, especially at this club because we train hard.

“As a player, games are what you live for and the games are what you enjoy, training is the hard part.”

TUESDAY’S FIXTURES: Cliftonville v Ballymena United, Carrick Rangers v Coleraine, Dungannon Swifts v Glenavon, Linfield v Glentoran (all 7.45 kick-off), Portadown v Larne (7.30).

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