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Glentoran skipper Paul Leeman is looking for inspiration from an unlikely source as he bids to drag his team back to the top of the Carling Premiership.
Indifferent form — something of an understatement taking into account their infamous 6-0 hammering at the hands of Coleraine, which almost cost them their manager — has seen the title pendulum swing in the direction of Windsor Park.
And, it is in that exact place that Leeman is pointing to as he aims to help the Glens put in a run of form that he feels is needed if they are to keep alive their dream of Gibson Cup retention.
Bitter rivals Linfield suffered something of a battering themselves this campaign, shipping in four goals in front of a worldwide television audience against Cliftonville at Solitude in September.
However, stung by that embarrassment, the Blues went on a 13-match unbeaten run, halted only by in-form Portadown last week — a game they probably should have won, too.
“Things have been positive over the past couple of weeks,” said Leeman, who will lead the Glens out against Glenavon at the Oval tomorrow.
“We were really disappointed not to have a game last week (their match with Dungannon Swifts fell victim to the weather) because we had had a few really good training sessions and there was a bit of a buzz about the place again.
“But we have been back in and training has been really good again this week so we are all looking forward to getting out there.
“It was annoying not playing because we wanted to build up some momentum. The Coleraine match was one of the lowest points of my career and since then I think the performances have been better.
“We showed a bit of fight against Glenavon (in the Co-operative Insurance Cup) and then played well against Crusaders and should have won.
“So we wanted to build on that last week but we’ll take it forward to the Glenavon game.
“There has been a lot of talking about what happened and now we want to get out and do it on the pitch. We need to get a bit of consistency together and go on a good run, just like Linfield did.
“They had a bad defeat against Cliftonville and bounced back to go on a run and that’s what we have to do.”
It’s getting perilously close to December and that mean one thing to Glentoran fans — the nightmare before Christmas.
It’s notoriously a bad month for the Glens but Leeman isn’t worrying too much about that.
“People say it’s a bad month but you don’t pay attention to that sort of thing,” he added. “We are just concerned about getting a lot of wins under our belts.”
