Institute vs Ballyclare Comrades preview: Split second

Institute have a chance to get themselves into second place this weekend with a win over Ballyclare Comrades.

The Reds currently sit one above ‘Stute in the Championship table, though Kevin Deery’s side have a game in hand, and a win for the Drumahoe men on Saturday would put them in cruise control.

Second and third place will face one another in a play-off for a shot at promotion and with PSNI just five points behind Institute, they know they need a win to keep themselves ahead.

Deery’s side will come into the game on excellent form after an impressive 4-0 win over Loughgall last weekend, with debutant Kyle Friel-Curran getting two first half goals.

“You definitely can’t complain about a 4-0 win away from home,” the manager told the Derry News.

“Certainly, on chances created and the way we played I’m sure Loughgall were delighted to get away having only conceded four. We’re playing reasonable football and we’ve been picking up results.”

He continued: “Unfortunately, we didn’t get one against Warrenpoint but the other games I feel we started reasonably well and we’re happy. We’re a point behind Ballyclare, playing them at the weekend, and we have a game in hand so it’s put second place firmly in our hands for the last few games.”

Another positive from that game against Loughgall was a clean sheet for the Blues – just their sixth of the season.

“We’ve highlighted that a lot and to be fair we’ve just said that we haven’t kept enough. We didn’t want to emphasise on it too much because I feel when you talk about something a lot it usually backfires against you but thankfully we could keep that clean sheet and you could see at the end, even with a few changes, we were still hungry to get that all important clean sheet,” insisted Deery.

“I’m building it this week because it’s a key element. Yes, we played well on a difficult pitch but there’s no point in doing that just to drop off this week. We look to move on and push on and that’s what the plan is this week.”

Three points would lift the Blues above this week’s opponents and would certainly make them favourites for a play-off spot but the manager isn’t taking anything for granted.

“A win gives us the advantage. We haven’t been second a lot in my time. We came from away down the field last year and pushed hard,” he explained.

“We nearly caught the top two but we just failed a bit and then this year obviously Warrenpoint have run away with it. I want to get that control, and see if my boys are capable then of pushing on again and nailing on that second spot. It will give us a chance to go up.”

Derry pointed to the attitude of the squad in recent weeks as the reason behind their hard push for a potential promotion play-off.

“The last few weeks have been really refreshing for us. The effort and attitude has come from within the group and it’s been good to watch in training at times,” he admitted.

“Rather than the coach and the assistant coach being the driving force, the players have realised the importance of throwing him into the deep end and they’ve picked us up a bit after that bad defeat against Warrenpoint.

“We felt that if he had won that you wouldn’t have known but it didn’t work out. They have picked us up with their commitment and their desire to try and get up,” added the manager.

Those two first half goals from Kyle Friel-Curran on his competitive debut sent ‘Stute on their way, and the man who brought him to Drumahoe said he was delighted for his front man.

“Without disrespecting his other clubs we try and do things a little bit different and work hard. It’s taken him a bit to get up for speed and he’s had a few back and neck injuries because we push hard in the gym on a Monday and we train quite hard Tuesdays and Thursdays,” explained the manager.

“It’s taken his body a while to get used to it but certainly in the last couple of weeks we have seen him get up to speed and show his quality. He scored two great goals at the weekend. He could have been a bit selfish going for his hat trick but he put his hand up and said he was out on his feet. It was good responsibility.”

Friel-Curran’s start meant that all four of Deery’s January signings were in the first eleven against Loughgall, and he said that he felt they were all now starting to make a real impact.

“We always played good football but we needed a bit of steel and determination and the boys have come in and given us that aspect,” admitted the manager.

“We are physically ready to challenge teams in our division whereas many four or five months ago we were getting outfought. It was a thing we looked at and thought we could improve so we made those additions and they have been good ones.”