Optimistic Institute face Warrenpoint test tomorrow

Warrenpoint vs. Institute

Milltown

Saturday, 3pm

An upbeat Brian Donaghey has backed his team to get out of relegation trouble sooner rather than later.

‘Stute go to second-placed Warrenpoint this weekend hoping to finally halt their run of poor results away from home, but the need for points tops everything else. Just one point off the relegation play-off place in the Lough 41 Championship, ‘Stute need wins desperately. They should have had their second victory in succession against Dergview last Saturday, but they conspired to throw away two points by missing several big chances and conceding horrible goals in a 2-2 draw. It was a result which left manager Donaghey scratching his head.

“To be honest I still don’t know how we haven’t won the game and I’m a wee bit shocked and dazed that we haven’t won,” he said afterwards.

“We have to take the positives out of the game and they are that we're creating a lot of chances, getting into good goalscoring opportunities, we actually passed the ball quite well through the thirds, but it’s definitely two points dropped for us.

“I thought we controlled the game and while there wasn’t much in it during the first half, I always thought in the second half we had another gear to go through and we did. We caused them a lot of problems and got ahead twice and I’m so frustrated for the boys, because I know the effort that they put in.

“There’s nobody who can say that we didn’t deserve to win it, but listen we’ll go again. We’ve taken four points out of six in our last two games, and we probably would have taken that before we played Annagh.”

After a dire run of 11 games without a win, ‘Stute have now taken four points from six and the performances suggest to Donaghey that he has very little to be worried about in the next few weeks.

“I’m very disappointed for the boys and I’m leaving the Brandywell wondering how we didn’t win the game, but also having that feeling that we’re going in the right direction and I do think it’s only a matter of time before we win by a big margin,” he continued.

“We now have to go and try to remain unbeaten for the rest of the season and staying away from the relegation zone is still in our own hands and I have no doubt, with the quality that we have and the way we’re playing right now, then we’ll get out of trouble sooner rather than later.”

‘Stute were disappointed the last time they visited Milltown in October, losing 2-0 before a 1-1 draw with Warrenpoint at the Brandywell a month later. Donaghey is looking forward to the game despite the reality of his team’s situation and the pressure that comes with it.

“I told the boys last Thursday night that I was actually looking forward to going to Warrenpoint on Saturday, because for 75 minutes up there the last time, we were well in the game and it was only when we made a few substitutes trying to win the game, that we were caught out, but I feel we’ll be okay this weekend against them,” he reflected.

“We’re going in the right direction and we’re starting to turn around our performances, we also creating chances and we look a threat, now we want to change those performances into victories.”

Away record

‘Stute have taken just one point from their last seven away games and conceded 11 goals in the last two games at Loughgall and Ballyclare. Donaghey feels it is only a matter of time before that trend changes.

“Sometimes in life you don’t get what you deserve, but our performances in our last two weeks have been encouraging,” he said.

“If we had played our last two games and not creating chances and we’re not dominating games then I’m worried going into our remaining matches and hoping that someone digs us out of a hole, but that’s not the case because we can count on two, three or four people to do it for us.

“There’s still a lot of football to be played, there’s still nine matches to be played and a lot of points to be played for and we’re going into this Saturday’s game on the back of two really positive results.”