Glenavon were this week beaten by the elements after just 15 minutes of football at the Oval.

“I’ve never witnessed anything like this for the start of any season,” said Blues boss Stevie McBride.

“We’re probably in the same boat as everybody else. We’re all frustrated and all we can do is get back into training and start getting ready for next week.

“If the rain had stopped on Saturday after the warm-up it would have been playable but then as we kicked off it became torrential. It was another frustrating, miserable day. The referee had to give the game a chance and he did that but it was obvious it had to be called off.”

Many fans had paid to watch the game and more were approaching the turnstiles when the game was abandoned but McBride is adamant that the match couldn’t have been called off any sooner.

“When we arrived at the ground, although it was raining, the pitch was alright. There was no real water on it. If the game had been called off then, we would have been left thinking, ‘Well, it looks alright’ so it had to be given a chance.”

“Performances get fans through the gates but we haven’t had a chance to do that. We got 15 minutes on Saturday and we started off very well. We were very disappointed not to get a penalty-kick. We began positively and the lads were up for it but unfortunately it just had to be called off.”

Glenavon will travel to Seaview to take on Crusaders this Saturday in their third attempt to get the league season under-way and McBride isn’t under-estimating the task ahead.

“Crusaders are one of the teams that I think will have a good season this year and do very well,” he added. “They are like us as they’re hoping for a good season and they’ve got a good squad together.

“Gareth McKeown from Portadown and Mark Dickson from Linfield are the two signings that stand out but they had a good solid nucleus of a team from last year.

“They beat us at Easter by four goals at our place and I think it summed up what was going on at Glenavon at the time. The feeling in the camp was miserable and I think it showed that particular day.

“They’re a good side but so are we. We’ll go down there and if we get the same commitment, passion and desire that we’ve got from the players during pre-season and during the training nights and for 15 minutes last Saturday I think we would give anybody a race.

“I’m confident that we’ll show a marked improvement on what the supporters have been watching in the last couple of years and then we’ll build on it and move on from there.”

With Tuda Murphy soon leaving to join up with his international team-mates, McBride is taking the opportunity to get Robert Robinson settled into the side.

“Tuda might be here for Saturday before travelling to play for the Cayman Islands.

“The fact that he is going away was part and parcel of the decision we made to start Robinson last Saturday.