We have our first chance of the evening and it falls to the Rory Hale.

Hale combines with Reds striker Joe Gormley and Ronan Doherty before Doherty lays the ball off for the on-rushing midfielder, whose first time effort is wide of Ondrej Mastny's near post.

We are underway at Stangmore Park.

Steven Gordon has the first real meaningful shot of the game for Carrick although his long-range strike proves a simple save for Sean O'Neill.

In the opening 20 seconds Ross Clarke weaves his way through midfield and tries his luck from close range but his strike is touched over the bar by Rory Brown.

That was a big early scare for the home side.

Early indications are that Coleraine are lining up in a 4-4-2 formation with Eamon Fyfe partnering top scorer Matthew Shevlin in attack.

The two go back a long way to when they were scoring goals for fun for Carniny Youths in Ballymena back in the day.

The pair are already showing signs that they could pose problems for the Newry City defence this evening.

Nearly a calamity for Linfield in the opening stages as Sam Roscoe doesn't get enough on his back pass meaning Conor McMenamin could nip in and bear down on goal.

Chris Johns was alert and came to Roscoe's rescue by denying the Glens winger a certain goal.

The game is underway at Mourneview Park.

Can the home side come out on top?

We’re underway at the Coleraine Showgrounds as fans continue to filter onto the terraces.

Dry conditions but with a stiffish wind.

Paul McElroy gets the action under way for the visitors at Solitude.

We are under way at Taylors Avenue.

So far this season this fixture has produced two away victories. Will we see another?

We're underway here at The Oval.

Glentoran have been dealt a blow ahead of the Big Two derby with the news that defender Patrick McClean has announced his retirement from football aged just 26.

The Derry native had been with the Glens since 2019 and won the Irish Cup during his time at the Oval.

Read more on his retirement here

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Carrick take on United at Taylors Avenue - with a win the home side can draw level on points with the visitors.

Stuart King's side come into the fixture after a 2-0 win on their travels after defeating Newry City on Saturday.

David Jeffrey’s team played out a frustrating stalemate at home to bottom side Portadown at the weekend.

In terms of form Carrick have recorded one win in their last six league games while it's two wins from six for Ballymena.

The sides have met twice this season in the league with a win for each side. Both those wins strangely went the way of the away team.

King makes one change - Andrew Mitchell comes in to replace Alexander Gawne, who drops to the bench.

Jeffrey makes three changes with Sean O'Neill, Kym Nelson and Jordan Gibson coming in for Jordan Williamson, Sean Graham, David McDaid.

Carrick Rangers: Ross Glendinning, Forsythe, Ervin, Gordon, Cushley (capt), Mitchell, Mcuckin, Reece Glendinning, Maiciulatis, Tilney, Anderson.

Subs: Hogg, Surgenor, Gawne, Kalla, Buchanan-Rolleston, Dupree, McLaughlin.

Ballymena Utd: O'Neill, Nelson, Redman, Wilson, Whiteside, Kelly (capt), Waide, McCullough, Henderson, Gibson, Place.

Subs: Thompson, Kane, McGrory, Tipton, Taylor, Tennant, Farquhar.

Image source, BBC Sport

Larne are looking to maintain their spot at the top of the table with a victory over eleventh placed Dungannon at Stangmore Park.

Tiernan Lynch's side are currently on a five game unbeaten run in the league, and they make two changes to the side that put three goals past Glenavon last time out.

Lee Bonis drops to the bench in favour of Paul O’Neill. Leroy Millar has not recovered from a knock he picked up on Friday night and he is replaced by Shea Gordon.

Dungannon’s recent home defeat to Coleraine was the first time they had lost at Stangmore Park in six matches across league and cup, but they have conceded 12 goals in their last three league matches going into this game against the league leaders.

Manager Dean Shiels has made wholesale changes, replacing half of his outfield players from the side that lost 3-0 to Crusaders on Saturday.

Out go Joe McCready, Dean Curry, Ethan McGee, Jordan Jenkins and Gerard Bruna, and in come Caolan Marron, Michael O’Connor, Cahal McGinty, Oran O’Kane and Joe Moore.

Dungannon Swifts: Dunne, Coyle, Knowles (c), McCready, O'Connor, Campbell, McGinty, O'Kane, Ruddy, Moore, Anismasahun

Subs: Nelson, Curry, Walsh, Jenkins, Lynch, S Scott, Bruna.

Larne: Ferguson, Cosgrove (c), Bolger, Want, Donnelly, Glynn, Sule, Thomson, Gordon, Ryan, O'Neill

Subs: Paddington, Kelly, Watson, Bonis, Hutchinson, Maguire, Banda.

Image source, BBC Sport

Cliftonville look to keep pace with league leaders Larne as they welcome bottom side Portadown to Solitude.

The Reds will be aiming to bounce back from their recent 1-0 defeat by Linfield. Kris Lowe’s second-half own goal was enough to hand the champions all three points and Paddy McLaughlin will be hoping his side can put their disappointment behind them and go on another unbeaten run to stay in the title mix.

Portadown have picked up two draws in their last five league outings but with 12 games remaining and 11 points the difference between themselves and Dungannon Swifts it’s wins the Mid-Ulster side need, and quickly.

Cliftonville make three changes from their defeat to Linfield with Luke Turner, Jamie McDonagh and Joe Gormley drafted in at the expense of Colin Coates, Sean Moore and David Parkhouse.

Niall Currie also makes three changes of his own with Patrick McNally, Joshua Archer and Reece Jordan those to drop out of the starting XI from his side’s goalless draw with Ballymena United. Lee Upton, Mark Russell and Stephen Teggart are their replacements.

Cliftonville: Gartside, Ives, Addis, Gallagher, Rory Hale, Turner, McDonagh, Lowe, Ronan Doherty, Ronan Hale, Gormley

Subs: Gerard Doherty, Curran, Parkhouse, Traynor, Casey, Coates, Moore

Portadown: Mastery, Upton, Wilson, Balde, Russell, McKeown, Teggart, Rodgers, McCawl, Freil, McElroy

Subs: Barr, Stedman, Chapman, Archer, Igiehon, Walker, O’Sullivan

Image source, BBC Sport

It’s fifth against 10th at the Coleraine Showgrounds tonight as high-flying Coleraine welcome lowly Newry City.

The sides have met twice before already this season with the north coast side winning on both occasions - 2-0 here back in September and 2-1 at Newry in January.

Will it be third time lucky for the visitors - or will this evening’s hosts extend their unbeaten league run to 13 games stretching back some three months?

Bannsiders’ boss Oran Kearney makes two changes to the team which started Saturday’s 2-2 draw at home to Glentoran.

Rodney Brown, who went off injured in that game, is replaced by Lee Lynch, while the suspended Jamie Glackin’s place is taken by Eamon Fyfe, a January signing from Dundela.

Newry City manager Daren Mullen makes five changes to his side following the weekend’s 2-0 home defeat to Carrick Rangers.

Darren Hughes misses out after being shown a red card at the weekend while Philip Donnelly is also suspended. Ryan McGivern, James Teelan and Stephen Moran, meanwhile, drop to the bench.

In their places come club captain Darren King, Brian Healy, Matthew Lusty, Dylan Sloan and Olajuwon Bamidele Adeyemo.

The border club are also without NI Under-21 international John McGovern through illness and Lorcan Forde, who is injured.

Plenty to play for, then, at opposite ends of the table...

Coleraine: Deane, Kane, D. Jarvis, A. Jarvis, Carson, Fyfe, O’Donnell (c), Lynch, McDermott, Shevlin, Scott.

Subs: Doherty, Mullan, McCrudden, Carlin, Campbell, Doherty, McLaughlin.

Newry City: Maguire, King (c), N. Healy, Lockhart, Martin, B. Healy, Scullion, Montgomery, Lusty, Sloan, Adeyemo.

Subs: Brady, McGivern, Carville, Teelan, Moan, Kwelele, McCaul.

Image source, BBC Sport

It is just over a month since both teams met at Mourneview Park, a game when Glenavon were the 4-2 victors.

However, since that tie, Glenavon haven’t won a game and are struggling for form, with Championship side H&W Welders knocking them out of the Irish Cup ten days ago.

Crusaders sit fourth in the table but a victory tonight, depending on results elsewhere, could leave them just one point off top spot.

Gary Hamilton makes three changes from the starting XI who suffered a 3-0 defeat by Larne on Friday night with Aaron Rogers, Matthew Snoddy and Eoin Bradley replacing Conor Kerr, Robbie Garrett and Isaac Baird, who all drop to the bench.

While the north Belfast side make two switches to the team who were the victors against Dungannon, with Dean Ebbe and Rory McKeown taking the places of Adam Lecky and Jarlath O'Rourke.

Glenavon: Brown, Birney, Snoddy, Fitzpatrick, Campbell, Wallace, Doran, Rogers, Ward, Stewart, Bradley.

Subs: Kerr, Norton, O'Connor, Lynch, Baird, Garrett, Prendergast.

Crusaders: Tuffey, Burns, Robinson, Lowry, Ebbe, Forsythe, Winchester, Thompson, Heatley, Clarke, McKeown.

Subs: Murphy, Weir, Lecky, Stewart, Rafferty, Boyd, Quinn.

Image source, BBC Sport

Certainly no love in the air tonight as the ‘Big Two’ derby takes centre stage with Glentoran welcoming rivals Linfield to The Oval for the third time this season.

This is the fifth time the two sides will have met this season in all competitions. The Glens won the first meeting 3-0 at Windsor Park back in October, but have since lost three consecutive games to the Blues.

The champions have won on their last two visits to east Belfast, most recently on Boxing Day thanks to a last-gasp screamer from striker Eetu Vertainen. He doesn’t feature in the visitors' squad tonight.

Linfield currently sit in third place in the Irish Premiership, just one point behind leaders Larne and Cliftonville.

Glentoran meanwhile are back in sixth, 11 points off the pace. However, they are still within touching distance with a few games in hand on the sides above them.

It doesn’t get any bigger than this with the ‘Belclassico’ kicking-off under the lights tonight at a packed out Oval.

Glentoran manager Rodney McAree makes just the one change to the side that drew with Coleraine on Saturday afternoon. Conor McMenamin comes into the starting XI at the expense of January signing Junior.

For David Healy, he makes two changes to the side that beat Cliftonville at the weekend. Chris McKee and Daniel Finlayson replace Kyle McClean and Conor Pepper.

Glentoran: McCarey, Kane (capt), McCullough, Wilson, Burns, McCartan, Marshall, J. Donnelly, Devlin, McMenamin, McGinn.

Subs: Webber, R. Donnelly, Singleton, Crowe, Plum, Wightman, Junior.

Linfield: Johns, Roscoe, Newberry, Shields, Millar, McClean, Cooper, M. Clarke, Mulgrew (capt), Pepper, Lafferty.

Subs: McDaid, Hall, Devine, Haygarth, A. Clarke, Palmer, McKay.

Image source, BBC Sport