Institute boss urges players to enjoy the occasion

Promotion/ Relegation Play-Off   |   Ballymena United vs. Institute   |   Ballymena Showgrounds   |   Friday, 7:45pm

Kevin Deery is urging his players to enjoy themselves and not to get caught up in the occasion in tomorrow night’s Promotion /Relegation Play-Off second leg at the Ballymena Showgrounds.

‘Stute lead 1-0 after Tuesday night’s first leg, thanks to Danny Lafferty’s stunning second half goal, a night of narrow margins at the Brandywell.

It was ‘Stute’s 25th win in 45 games in all competitions at the end of a remarkable season, and the most important to date, with the club now on the verge of returning to the Premier Division for the first time in four years.

Deery’s team were forced to dig deep on Tuesday, with referee Evan Boyce playing almost 100 minutes before the final whistle was met with huge cheers from a large crowd at the Brandywell. Deery did not celebrate however, understanding that the job is only half way done.

“We showed good commitment levels, but we have to be better definitely than what we've shown at times,” he said. “We have to put the occasion into question and people's emotions, to be honest. We were a wee bit rushed and nervy at times, so we have to strip that emotion back.

“They're going to have a big home support and we have to go up and try and do better than we did on the night, for sure. It's not been in us all year to try and sit back and defend, so that won't be the case. We have to try and get after them and score goals. Their style is really difficult to play against. It's very direct, it's duals, second balls, staying with runners and getting blocks in. We'll have to do all that again, but we need to be better in our own performance in terms of keeping the ball and getting numbers for it.”

‘Stute have defied many people’s expectations all year, but especially in recent weeks, when it looked as if home form of all things would cost ‘Stute their goal. But the players continue to produce results when it matters.

“The spirit is definitely there,” Deery insisted. “But as you see, they're fighting for their own town as well. They're not going to lie down. There's always two teams in the equation and we have to match their aggression and their determination and we have to show more quality in our own play. When I say that, you're looking at Danny's goals, things like that. That's big moments and we need to find another big moment. We need to have all the aggression and desire that we've shown all year again for one last push.”

Kevin Deery has led Institute from second bottom to second place.

The spirit of the players was shown again on Tuesday, with some heroic defending ensuring that they held onto their lead.

“We’re going to the end, there's no doubt about that,” Deery agreed. “We have scored 20 plus goals from the 80th minute, 10 plus after the 90th. We're going to the end. We're going to the end with blocks in our own box, and bodies on the line. You need all that to be a successful football team. We have challenges here. We don't have the luxury of going for big players in big moments, but we have a spirit in our group that we're willing to go right into the deep end for each other.”

Past is the past

This will be the third time that Deery has taken ‘Stute to a play-off, and he is hoping that it is third time lucky after painfully losing out to Carrick with the final kick of the two legs back in 2017.

“It's a long, long time ago,” he recalled. “I don't think we could regret anything. The one that flashes to mind, we didn’t defend properly at Carrick, but that's years back. I don't even reflect on that. I've come in and done a job and got them going really well. I'm just focusing on what we've done well and trying to get another result.”

There should be a good sized ‘Stute support at Ballymena tomorrow night and Deery is hoping that at the end of a season that few could have expected, there is still one more surprise to come.

“That's the thing, you can't go up there all apprehensive and going “we're one win away”,” he stated. “You just go up and enjoy the occasion, put on a real performance and battle and leave everything out there. If you do that, let's hope it's enough to get us over the line.”