'Stute welcome league leaders Loughgall to the Brandywell tomorrow

Institute vs. Loughgall

Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium

Saturday, 3pm

Institute are hoping to take advantage of Loughgall’s stuttering form when the league leaders come to the Brandywell on Saturday.

Despite an excellent start to the season which saw them go clear at the top of the Lough 41 Championship, Loughgall have struggled lately, with just two wins in their last five. Not only that, they lost to bottom-placed Dergview two weeks ago with their lead at the top now down to just four points.  

That is encouragement for ‘Stute, who, with five wins in eight home games so far, are hoping to add to their woes this weekend.

“Loughgall are table toppers and had a fantastic start to the season,” manager Brian Donaghey said. “They are a formidable team; we had a really good tussle with them at Lakeview Park back in October and we came out on the back of a 1-0 defeat, albeit it because of a very dubious penalty decision. There wasn’t much in the game that day.

“Every team in this league is capable of beating each other; Dergview beating Loughgall last week, bottom versus top, just shows you what this league is about; it’s just so, so unpredictable.”

‘Stute come into the game on the back of a 1-1 draw at Ards last Saturday. Despite dropping another two points from a winning position, it was very much a point gained according to Donaghey.

“Saturday was a very tough game,” he admitted. “They started much brighter than us to be fair. Ards were definitely superior to us in the first half, but just after half time we got a goal and I think if we had held on for another five or ten minutes instead of conceding when we did we might have been able to see the game out, but they scored soon afterwards. Ards are a good side, they are improving, they have good players, and it was a welcome point and probably a deserved point in the end based on our second half performance.”

‘Stute were forced to play in atrocious conditions last week, and that could be the case for the next few weeks, a significant challenge of having a league played through the winter months.  

“I looked at the weather forecast last Saturday morning and it said there was a 6% chance of rain, and it rained from 2:30pm until 5:30pm and it got heavier actually when the second half started,” Donaghey laughed. “These are the conditions; we’re in the league long enough ow and we have to cope with that. They were at home and probably used the surface well. But we had five players missing also for various reasons so we probably weren’t full strength, but we should have quite a few of those lads back this week so we’ll have a stronger squad to pick from.”

Important

‘Stute had a number of key players missing last week, but most are set to return for Loughgall, although centre-half Dylan King misses out through suspension. Donaghey believes his side have a good chance against the top team in the division regardless.

“You have to be 70-80% in most games every week if you are going to get anything,” he continued. “Thankfully we have turned up most weeks now. Going way back to the blip against Welders, I don’t think there’s been any game where we’ve been outclassed or outplayed. We are probably unlucky not to have picked up more points to be honest. We have a tough month now with the top three to come in December, so it’s not going to be easy, but you have to play everyone and we’ll give it a shot on Saturday, and if we can get a few key bodies back for Saturday then hopefully we’ll be okay.”

‘Stute meanwhile, were drawn at home to Annagh United in he first round of the Irish Cup. The tie will be played on January 7.