It will be of no use to us, however, if we don't push on from here and put together a run of victories that would help get our title challenge back on track.

Things are in Cliftonville's hands but, if they fail to win their outstanding matches or slip-up elsewhere, then the ball's back in Linfield's court.

All that we at Glentoran can do is concentrate on our own performances and results to ensure that, if and when the Reds and Blues drop a few points, we are im prime position to take advantage.

As for last week's game, I've heard plenty of criticism about the match and how it was poor fare for the however many hundreds of thousands of people who watched from the comfort of their armchairs, but I don't think it was actually as bad as has been made out.

All that was missing was a goal or two. Aside from that, both teams put on a good show and Cliftonville did very well to come away with a point despite missing a number of regular players and with a re-jigged line-up.

Most of the attacking play was done by the home team and they would have bagged a win had it not been for the brilliance of John Connolly, but goalkeepers are part of football, too, and viewers shouldn't simply look upon a 0-0 draw as a dull game because it was far from that.

I've seen plenty of worse games from the English, Italian and Spanish leagues this season but I'll continue to watch them because you never know when the next great match is just round the corner.

Hopefully others will afford our league the same principle.

CONN IS ON

NO sooner was I welcoming Tommy Leeman to Premier League management with Larne than I'm offering the same to Graham McConnell.

I must admit I don't know much about him except what I've read in the papers this week but it sounds as though he's landed his dream job at Inver Park and good luck to him.

Similarly, I don't have a great deal of knowledge about the Larne board. There seems to have been a bit of chopping and changing down there of late and that may have been a contributary factor in Tommy Leeman's departure.

Perhaps McConnell, as a Larne supporter and former player, will be able to put up with that a little more as he attempts to steady the ship.

HAT'LL DO VERY NICELY INDEED

NOBODY ever has any complaints about scoring a hat-trick, although I'm sure Armagh weren't quite so happy about it last Saturday.

That's my third hat-trick against them and I don't know what it is about certain players that they seem to be particularly prolific against a specific club.

I always seemed to score against Omagh Town as well and, when they unfortunately went to the wall, Armagh appeared to take over the mantle.

I remember Robbie Fowler once speaking about how, no matter who he was playing for, he always managed to get his name on the scoresheet against Arsenal but didn't really know why or how - it's just one of those things that football throws up.

Armagh may not be quite as famous or glamourous as Arsenal, but they'll certainly do for me if I'm able to maintain my record against them in the future.