Institute head to H&W Welders hoping for third successive away win

H&W Welders vs. Institute

Blanchflower Stadium

Saturday, 3pm

Institute’s newest goal-scoring hero Kirk McLaughlin is determined to prove to his manager that he is worthy of a starting position on a weekly basis.

The 19-year-old came off the bench to score a second half hat tick against Bangor last week, taking his total to seven goals in just 12 appearances in all competitions. He is also the first ‘Stute player to score a hat trick in any competition since Ian Parkhill back in March, 2022.

McLaughlin is currently on loan from Premier Division side Glentoran, and he insists he has not come to ‘Stute just to sit on the bench.

"I'm frustrated I'm not starting obviously but whenever I do come on, I need to be showing that I should be starting,” he said.

"Obviously you don't expect a second half hat-trick but you try and score as many goals as you can. You just come on and try and improve the team and do your best. I was told to be aggressive and I thought I did that and changed the game.”

That impressive win on Saturday, which was ‘Stute’s biggest league win since last November, kept them right in the mix at the top of the Playr-Fit Championship, where they currently sit in third place, five points behind leaders Dundela with a game in hand. It was also ‘Stute’s fifth win in six league games and continues a remarkable run of form from Kevin Deery’s team.

"It's a great result especially when you're scoring four goals and getting a clean sheet as well,” McLaughlin agreed. “It's good to get a clean sheet and score plenty of goals and move up the table to go above Bangor and hopefully we can kick on. We just need to keep going, don't look behind us and just keep kicking on.”

Last season, ‘Stute’s top scorer at the end of a difficult campaign was Jamie Dunne, who had nine goals in all competitions. McLaughlin is already just two goals away from that total just three months into a new campaign and looks certain to reach double figures well before Christmas.

“That's the aim anyway, so hopefully I can kick on and get more goals,” he said. "It's not about age, our whole team is young but we're a bunch of young men, we're not kids. We just need to kick on from this performance and learn from it.

"Everyone is chipping in. You have Mark (Mbuli), Tiernan (McKinney), Michael (Harris), Sean McCarron who is injured; you have (Evan) Tweed and our defence is scoring goals and that's what you need. You need your whole team scoring and contributing to everything.

Welders test

‘Stute now head to Belfast this weekend to face a H&W Welders team which is struggling in the bottom half of the table. Paul Kee’s side visited the Brandywell back in September, but fell to a 2-1 defeat with Liam Mullan and Mark Mbuli scoring the goals for ‘Stute on the day.

Since then, the form of both sides have been extremely contrasting and Deery’s young team will be confident of making it three successive away wins, following victories at Ballinamallard and Ards. That could even have been more had the game at Annagh not been abandoned in the second half with ’Stute a goal to the good.  Last season, ‘Stute managed just four away wins throughout the whole campaign, and that is just another sign of the improvement in the team this season already.

McLaughlin, who has certainly given his manager something to think about in his team selection for the game, believes there is no reason why they can’t keep the good form going.

"We just need to keep picking up those points and going away from home and getting as many points as we can as well, not just at Brandywell but away from home as well,” he added.

"We'll just take it game by game, we'll not look too far ahead of ourselves. We'll just take it a game at a time and hopefully keep picking the points up.”