Rodney McAree feels Conor McMenamin is back to his best at a key time for Glentoran after an uncharacteristic lean spell for the forward.
The Glens welcome Cliftonville to The Oval this evening for a European shootout.
McMenamin produced a typically impressive display scoring one and assisting two in the 5-0 win over Glenavon in midweek, and McAree is hoping for more of the same against the Reds as they bid to secure a place in the Europa Conference League qualifiers.
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"Big players will go through barren spells from time to time and Conor maybe has," he said.
"He has been a little bit frustrated because he hasn't scored in a while, but he gets one Glenavon and maybe could have scored again.
"I thought he was back to his old self which was nice to see. It's maybe come at a good time for him and a good time for us.
"I was very pleased with the whole performance against Glenavon.
"We set our stall out, we wanted to try and get an early goal.
"We knew if we got one early it would settle us and make the game a bit different.
"The last few times we've played Glenavon we've had chances to score early on but we haven't managed to get ourselves in front, thankfully we did on Wednesday night.
"I didn't think we were overly great for the first half hour, or 45 minutes really, but we found ourselves going in comfortable at the break.
"Another early goal at the start of the second half sort of kills the game, which was nice as it gave us that opportunity to get players off the pitch and give other people minutes as well.
"I thought the substitutes who came on were exceptional, they showed a real endeavour and wanted to do well and contribute."
McAree know it will be a tough test against Cliftonville, who edged out Coleraine in the other semi-final.
The Glens suffered heartache in last year's end of season showdown against Larne, which is still fresh in everyone's mind.
"We look at last season's result in the play-off final and how things changed very quickly for us that night," he said.
"There was a lot of hurt after that. It's not about going out and putting the wrongs right or anything like that, but there's maybe an added incentive that we want to go out and do well.
"It is a warning sign though. I look at key moments from last year and obviously the sending off kills us.
"We have to learn from our mistakes and hopefully we don't make the same ones this time around.
"Cliftonville have always been a tough team to play since I've been a manager.
"They are a very good side and it was a good result for them to beat Coleraine, who are another very good side.
"It was a tighter affair going by the score line, but they have done well to get over the line and they will take heart from that."
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