Glenavon to host Welders in cup

The club have a poor record in the tournament, having won it just once, in the 1989-90 season, and reached the final only once since.

The competition, which began in 1987, has been won by Cliftonville for the last four seasons and that’s a run Glenavon would love to break.

Not looking quite as far ahead, the Lurgan Blues take on Harland and Wolff Welders in the last 16 on Wednesday (October 11) and they want no repeat of last season’s early exit.

“We’ve let ourselves down in the League Cup,” said Assistant Manager Paul Millar. “Every year since I’ve come in, we’ve been put out by teams from a lower division.

“Last year, Annagh beat us. We didn’t play a full strength squad but it was a first team.

“It’s a big competition and we haven’t done ourselves justice.”

Millar did hint that there might be a few changes to the line-up that beat Portadown last Saturday.

He said: “Gary (Hamilton) has added well to the squad. We’ve gone from having a strong 11 to a strong 16 to now having a strong 22.

“That isn’t counting the young players coming up. Any group of players from within that should be able to match any team from the Championship.”