Ballyclare Comrades vs Institute preview: The calm before the storm
Not often do football teams face one another in a dead rubber game just before they come face to face in the biggest two matches of their season.
That will be the case this weekend for Institute, who travel to Ballyclare to take on the third placed Comrades in the last game of the regular season – the team that they will then face in a two-legged promotion play-off.
This season a new system has been introduced where the teams who finish second and third in the Championship play one another, with the winner taking on the side who finish second from bottom in the Premiership – Carrick Rangers.
‘Stute all but secured second place last week with a superb 1-0 victory over PSNI, meaning that the Comrades would need to beat them by a significant margin to overtake their opponents and snatch home advantage in the second leg of the play-off.
For manager Kevin Deery, that is something his side feel they can comfortably avoid against a team that have failed to beat them this season, and he believes they can use the confidence from last week’s away win over play-off challengers PSNI.
“We wanted to get the job finished against PSNI and we did that, and I feel we deserve to finish second in this league,” Deery told the Derry News.
“In saying that, we’re three points and 13 goals better off so mathematically it’s still possible. If they beat us 7-0 that’s a fourteen goal swing, but we’re in a fantastic position and it would take a miracle for them for us not to finish second so let’s look forward to the next couple of weeks – that’s the message for us.”
The sides have met four times already since the season began and it has always been a tight affair, with three draws in league meetings and ‘Stute coming out victors in the Irish Cup.
With this game seemingly nothing more than a dress rehearsal before the play-off clash, Deery admitted they must be smart about how they approach this weekend and that he will be cautious when it comes to player selection.
“I think both teams obviously wouldn’t like to face one another the Saturday before the most important two games that you’re going to play. I’m not going to lie – the fact is we have to manage what’s right and do what will get the best out of the players this week,” the manager explained.
“We have to pick a team that will always represent Institute and represent what I’m about. It’s not going to be a matter of just going out and saying ‘forget about it’. There’s no chance. You can’t do that. You have to be professional, and whoever goes out onto that pitch will be motivated and looking to do a job still.”
‘Stute come into this crucial stage of the season on excellent form having lost just once in seven games, and Deery insists that his team can also use the experience of last season, when they lost their promotion play-off in the final moments against Ballinamallard, to finish strongly.
“It pains me to say it, but we’re a very hard team to beat this year. We’ve lost seven games and as I keep harping on about, four of them have been against the league champions in Warrenpoint so outside of that it’s fine margins,” the manager said.
“We have good form. We’ve never gone on a run where we have been searching for points. We always manage to pick ourselves up, which is a good sign. I think last year will stand for us in some way, and it already has.”
He continued: “If the game against PSNI was a season ago we might have conceded, or we may have gone behind, but you can see now that they are learning the game a bit better. It’s good to see. We’ve brought in a bit of experience and steel. We want to kick on, as well as ease off in terms of physical stuff but they have to get ready for it.”
When it comes to the importance of securing home advantage in the second leg, Deery said that though it is unlikely that Ballyclare will be able to overtake them they have do everything they can to stay on top and hope that people will support them as they bid for promotion.
“We’re hearing that the games are Tuesday and Friday so obviously going to Ballyclare on a Tuesday night, it could be any sort of a night. There could be teams playing on the TV and that, but a Friday night at our own ground is fantastic,” the manager said.
“We’ve had a few of them and it’s a great night. It could be a big thing because Friday night we can get people out to support us. We’re working with very little, and we give everything of ourselves. That will be our message to people, and hopefully we can do it this year.”