IT’S Third Round day in the McComb’s Coach Travel Intermediate Cup this Saturday with three West Belfast sides aiming to book their place in the last 16.

Belfast Celtic manager Stephen McAlorum has stated his team is in good form ahead of their home tie against Lisburn Distillery.

Saturday’s match at Glen Road Heights (1.30pm) will see the team face Distillery during an ongoing winning streak after their recent 2-1 victory over Wakefield.

“We haven’t been beaten in a lot of games, we’re scoring plenty and we beat Wakefield 2-1 at their ground last Saturday,” he said.

“We were feeling confident, and took our chances. In terms of team management, overall, we’re in a very good place.”

McAlorum said the preferred strategy for Saturday’s game will see them making some room for players who haven’t seen that much action this season.

However, he expressed full confidence in what would be a tight and decisive game, and believes the current squad have not only what it takes to win the cup game, but also to hopefully move into the same division as Distillery in the NIFL Premier Intermediate level.

“We’re going to try and give some game time to some of the boys who haven’t had that much in a while,” he added.

“Distillery are a young team, and a decent outfit, but so are we and it will be a tight game, I don’t see there being much in it.

“Distillery are playing in a division that we ultimately want to be getting up into.
“It’s very much a game I and the boys are looking forward to and it’ll hopefully give a few of them the chance to stake a claim for themselves. It’s a home game too, so we are also expecting there to be a good crowd up there with us.”

Saturday will also feature St James’ Swifts going up against Coagh United in what manager Barry Johnston also believes will be a close and competitive match.

The Swifts recently beat Coagh 2-0 at their ground and are hoping to replicate that success again this weekend.

New signings to the team mean they are also feeling confident about facing Coagh on home turf at Donegal Celtic Park (1.30pm).

“Coagh are a real quality team,” said Johnston.

“Ryan McMenamin is one of their standout players, and I know him from NIFL Football Academy.

“They’re a good, very well organised team, and we recently beat them 2-0 at their ground, although it was a very tough game.

“It’s going to be a very competitive game, but we know what we’re up against and what we’re in for.”

Johnston also stated his team is fighting fit, with no major injuries and have recently completed some new signings that could very well be what tips the odds against Coagh and their star players like McMenamin.

“We’ve no big injuries at the moment,” he confirmed.

“We’ve signed Aaron Martin from Crumlin Star and John Savage from Ballymena United.

“Gary Dorian is back with us now so we’ve been strengthened in ways that not only have made the team stronger, but the whole squad stronger too.

“We’re really pleased with the new signings, and we’re hoping for a few more which means we can start the season off in a really strong way. We know Coagh’s strengths, we know their weaknesses, it’s going to be a very good game.”

Another cup match this Saturday will see Brian McCaul’s side Immaculata go on the road to Armagh City at Holm Park (1.30pm).

The Mac lost to Crumlin Star 1-0 two weeks ago and drew with Derriaghy CC 1-1 last weekend, but are currently facing some difficulties due to a depleted bench.

Sitting third in the NAFL Premier Division behind East Belfast and Crumlin Star, Brian McCaul stated the plan for match against Armagh was still to be decided.

Armagh are currently sitting at the top of the NIFL Premier Immediate League.

“Across the two previous games we’ve been missing a lot of players, getting the one point over two games doesn’t sound great, but considering we’ve had so many players out it hasn’t been too bad,” said McCaul.

“We’ve been down due to a range of circumstances. Our captain’s wife has just given birth and we’ve had a few injuries, we’ve been down to the bare bones, but an awful lot of the lads have stepped up and come back from injuries themselves, and they’ve put in a very good show considering how depleted we were.”

Ahead of Saturday, McCaul expects to have a few more players available, but feels Armagh were a bit of an unknown quantity going into the game.

“I haven’t seen much of Armagh, so we are going into the unknown a wee bit, but we will give it our best shot,” he added.

“We’ve played teams at their level before, so we can make good judgements on the level without really knowing the personnel, but we’re hoping to have a few more bodies back which will make our selection a bit easier.”