BALLYMENA United entertain Alan McDonald's Glentoran side in the first home game of the new Carnegie Irish Premier League season this Saturday.

The East Belfast Glens come to the Showgrounds, with an intimidating record of nine wins from their nine domestic fixtures this season, under the reign of former Northern Ireland defender, Alan McDonald.

McDonald took over from Paul Millar in the summer, after a farcical situation that seen Roy Walker paraded as the new Oval boss only to be replaced by McDonald days later after it turned out that the former Crusaders boss hadn’t the relevant coaching badges.

Despite an embarrassing UEFA Cup campaign the Glens have hit the ground running in the CIS Cup, with double victories over Larne, Distillery and Armagh City as well as a glamour game against Manchester United where over 14,000 people turned out to celebrate 125 years of the famous club.

They opened their league account with a resilient 1-0 win over Armagh City on Saturday at the Oval. Despite numerous chances, it was former-United target Daryl Fordyce who won the game for his new side, after signing from Portsmouth in the close season.

However, Tommy Wright and his Ballymena United side can take confidence from the fact that they emerged from this fixture with three points last season. Kevin Kelbie came off the bench to score twice to give Ballymena a 3-2 win in early January – their first home win against Glentoran since April 2000.

In the reverse fixture at the Oval this time last season, an off-colour United side lost 2-0 and had defender Gordon Simms sent off, as Aaron Callaghan scored an own goal and Kyle Neill scored the resulting free-kick from Simms’ cynical foul on the edge of the box.

The Sky Blues began their own League campaign in winning fashion at Mourneview Park on Saturday, defeating Glenavon 2-1. Kevin Kelbie returned to the side for the first time since August, and didn’t look out of place as he opened the scoring play alongside the in-form Davitt Walsh – who struck his sixth goal in five games for the Braidmen.

In team news, Nigel Boyd will miss Saturday’s game against the Glens, as he is attending a wedding – Craig McClean will return to the side at left-back. However, there are no new injury worries as Darren Fitzgerald and Stuart King are still not fit after neck and arm injuries. Manager Wright is expected to stick by the team that won at Glenavon.

Glentoran defender Phillip Simpson will definitely miss the game after a knee injury picked up against Armagh, however Elliott Morris may come back into contention after a broken jaw sustained in training, he kept a clean sheet during the Reserve meeting between the two sides on Tuesday night.

Key Player

The words Gary Hamilton are enough to strike fear into any defender in the Irish League. The former Northern Ireland international struck a remarkable 36 goals last seasons, and has seemingly picked up where he left off as he has struck eight times already this season. Hamilton left Portadown last summer after spending the last number of seasons with the Shamrock Park side, winning a League Championship and Irish Cup. His only trophy last year was the CIS League Cup, in which he scored the winning goal against Cliftonville.

Ex-Players

There are four players at the Showgrounds that have played for the East Belfast Glens; the most successful of those was probably Gavin Melaugh, who signed for Glentoran in 2003 from Rochdale and won a League title at the Oval. He signed for the Sky Blues in January. Reserve team midfielder Daley Carnduff played once under Paul Millar at the Oval in 2006. Kevin Kelbie had a very short stay at Glentoran after signing from Alloa Athletic – however their loss was our gain as he signed for United after being released. Darren Fitzgerald completes the quartet after spending three years at the Oval from 2000.2003.

The two ex-Braidmen at the Oval both found themselves sandwiching their short spells at United between stints at the Oval. Rory Hamill and Tim McCann were both hailed as big names signings at the Showgrounds, destined to bring success back to Warden Street. However, both were as equally unsuccessful as each other – after signing in 2004, both left in the summer of 2006.

Matchday News

Saturday's game will be live from 3.00pm on SevenFM (107fm) hosted as always by Davy King, he will be joined by the new Ballymena Reserve team's assistant manager - Alfie Stewart.