Institute hoping for third time lucky on the road

Ballinamallard vs. Institute

Ferney Park

Saturday, 3pm

The home form is well in hand, so improving the away form is the biggest challenge for Institute manager Kevin Deery ahead of a trip to Ballinamallard this weekend.

The weekend win over H&W Welders means that ‘Stute have managed three victories from four games at the Brandywell so far, which is 50% of their total home wins from last season, when they only won six from 18 games in front of their own fans.

Improving that home form was high on Deery’s agenda, as was the away form, which was even more concerning, four wins from 20 game son the road in 2022/23.

That first away win continues to elude ‘Stute to far, but they have come mightily close twice, performing very well in a 1-0 loss at Portadown before a 97th minute equaliser denied them a win at Bangor.

This week it is Ballinamallard, the site of ‘Stute’s last away victory, a 1-0 win at Ferney Park back in April in the final game of last season.

“We have been desperately unlucky in our two away games,” Deery reflected. “We dominated the game out of possession and had the best chances last week and should have been 2-0 up, but we gave away a chance in the 97th minute.

“We’ll go to Ballinamallard now, watch them to see what their strengths are, try to nullify them and then try and play our own football and exploit space and try and be a goal threat.”

That weekend win over Welders was something of a statement win from Deery’s young team, defeating an opponent that many have backed for the Championship title this season.

“It’s a great win,” Deery acknowledged. “We knew that Welders were good technically and they are a lot of teams favourites to win the division, so we had to be on it. I thought at times, when we did pass the ball, we cut Welders open. We played with a real edge to our game; we didn’t just keep the ball for the sake of it and we could have scored another couple of goals to be honest.”

‘Stute showed great character, both individually and collectively, to bounce back after conceding a very soft equaliser on Saturday past, a moment to forget for new goalkeeper Bryankizito Uzoukwu, who let a long-range effort from former ‘Stute man James McClay bounce past him. But the goalkeeper more than made up for it with an impressive second half. 

“They’ve had a shot from 25 yards and on this dry pitch it has bounced up on Bryan who has tried to palm it away, but he’s misjudged it,” Deery said. “But he’s pulled out a cracker save in the top corner in the second half where it looked as if it was going in but he has caught it with both hands. He showed great agility. I keep saying that the team who makes the least mistakes in this league is going to do the best I’d imagine.”

Strong response

The loss against Newington a few weeks ago was a dark day for everyone, but the response has been immense, with ‘Stute winning three out of four games since.

“It wasn’t even the performance against Newington, it was that we got complacent when we scored and we then gave up two easy goals in our own box from set pieces and then made a mistake and got punished from a 40-yard lob,” Deery recalled. “Evan Tweed had a great chance to make it 2-1 in that game, so there are fine margins.

“What we have shown now is that we can defend our box and we’re willing to do the hard yards and ugly stuff. We are going to try to get better each week with more attacking play, by dominating the ball, and I feel that’s where we need to get to.”