Season starts now for Institute

Institute vs. Newington

Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, Saturday, 3pm

It is a game between the teams at the bottom of the NIFL Championship, but it is anything but a six-pointer for Kevin Deery and Institute this weekend.

Last week’s win at Ballinamallard, the first of the season, took Stute off the bottom and Deery is now hoping to leave the bad start, and that section of the league, behind them as they target a win over a struggling Newington.

It was doom and gloom just two weeks ago following a dismal defeat to Ballyclare at the Brandywell, but the win over the Mallards, courtesy of a late equaliser from Padraig Lynch, and a very, very late winner from Shane Boyle has changed the mood at the club considerably.

“I think the manner of the performance was everything we wanted and associated ourselves with previously from my last year and a bit here to be honest,” Deery reflected. “We competed really well, we were the better team throughout the game and the response for me in the second half was brilliant because we could have done better for ourselves.

“We were the team that opened up on the front foot for the whole second half. We wasted a good few opportunities and still stayed in the game for the last seven or eight minutes to get the equaliser and then the winner.

“It's definitely a quality you want to see throughout your team. Obviously harsh words were said the week before but rightly so we had a good response, and we just have to keep going now.”

‘Stute made a habit of scoring late goals last year, finding the net 20 times beyond the 80th minute in all competitions. That attribute can take any team far.

“Definitely, because we got the equaliser and around that time they were making a few changes,” Deery agreed. “Once we equalised they shored up. I sensed a wee opportunity in it because there was a certain anxiousness in them. We got our attacking subs on and we played on the front foot and they were trying to hang on a wee bit. We were delighted to get a chance late.”

Deery singled out defender and match winner Shan Boyle for praise, who he is now looking to lead the way for ‘Stute following the departure of Shaun Leppard over the summer.

“Shane has been asked to step up and he stepped up at the last minute and got us a winner,” he said. “It's brilliant for him as well because he has big shoes to fill in terms of leading this group because of the personnel we lost last year.”

“We give the players a lot of responsibility. We're going to get a good bit of work done and shape up how we want to play and how we want to get at Newington at the Brandywell, I think that's very important. That's the next challenge for us. Obviously, we went to Ballinamallard and won but we have to pride ourselves and win our home games and that's the next challenge for us.”

Institute defeated Newington 2-0 at the Brandywell back in February.

Nothing is guaranteed in football, and Deery knows that despite Newington’s poor start, ‘Stute will have to improve significantly from their last Brandywell performance to secure their first home win of the season. Newington won 3-1 at the Brandywell at the start of last season, but ‘Stute responded with a 2-0 win of their own at home in February, when goals from Michael Harris and Mikhail Kennedy secured an important three points.

“It doesn't matter where you go, or how many fans you play in front of, you have to have pride in yourself and what you're doing,” he insisted.

“That's what we've always focused on. There'll be no disrespect to Newington but we want to use the result and the manner of it to elevate our season. We’ll have a couple of days now of good grafting and good work and we will look forward to the game now after that good win.”