Institute hoping to continue great form against Dundela today

Institute vs. Dundela

Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium

Today, 3pm

Evan Tweed is grateful for the support shown to him by Kevin Deery and his team mates, by backing him despite his red card earlier this season.

He 24-year-old got himself dismissed with half an hour to go in the 1-0 win over Ballyclare at the Brandywell at the end of August. Already on a yellow card, Tweed said something to the match official and got his marching orders as a result, a moment which left his manager bewildered, and left his team mates hanging on for the win.

Fortunately for Tweed, that game proved to be the start of a brilliant run of form from ‘Stute, who have won four from five since and are sitting in the top half of the NIFL Championship table, well within range of the top three.

Tweed, who was straight back into the team following his suspension, doesn’t intend to make the same mistake again.

“I got a wee bit lucky there that he did put me straight back in,” he said. “It was just a moment of madness from myself, but to be fair that’s the type of player I am, I play on the edge and my emotions get the better of me at times.

“In that Ballyclare game, it was silly; there were 65 minutes gone, but to be fair to the lads they hung on and that was the start of our good run as well.

“Before that we were playing well and maybe not getting the results against Portadown and Newington, whereas against Ballyclare we were really good until I got sent off and that changed the game. But the boys were brilliant defensively that day and I’m grateful for what they did. Once we won that game with 10 men, it showed us what we can do and it showed us that we can beat teams.”

‘Stute were well on their way to a second away win at the weekend, leading 1-0 at Annagh before a serious injury to Ryan Moffat, a suspected dislocated knee, saw the game abandoned.

“It was a strange experience to be fair, because it wasn’t really a tackle as such, it was just like a coming together, but as soon as we seen him go down and heard his reaction, we knew it was something badly wrong,” Tweed recalled. “We knew then as soon as the referee pulled us together and said to head into the changing room that it probably wouldn’t go ahead. It was probably the right decision because it’s all about the health and safety of the player at the end of the day and it looked like a nasty and serious injury.”

At the top

‘Stute have dropped to sixth place because of that abandoned game, but they could potentially go as high as second with victory over high-flying Dundela at the Brandywell today. ‘Stute’s recent record against Dundela makes grim reading, having lost the last six between them, scoring just one goal in the process.

“They are in good form themselves, sitting in third just two points above us,” Tweed acknowledged. “It should be a good match; we’re in a good run of form ourselves. We’ve got the wins the last while, but there have been games this season when we were the better football team on the pitch, but we didn’t really get the results. Whereas in the last while we’ve gone ahead and we’ve defended really well and kept the win. We’re on a good run of form and the spirits are high and we’re really looking forward to Saturday and a win would put us just above Dundela.”  

Tweed is one of a number of new, young and hungry players at the Brandywell this season, but the new-look squad has gelled together quickly.

“Everybody knows each other and I think that shows in training and in matches,” he said. “Before I signed, I knew a good lot of the lads and everybody knows each other from past clubs. We’ve gelled well early on and it has worked out well; the changing room has been brilliant, especially with Kevin and Mo. They have a great relationship and they have a great relationship with the players and it’s been really good.

“It’s still early days, but I think we knew from the first couple of games that we’ve got a really good team. It’s literally a matter of taking it a game at a time. That’s working in our favour with the form we’re in. We’re just going from Saturday to Saturday and thinking about the next game and this Saturday it’s Dundela.”