Carrick Rangers vs Institute preview: 'Stute chase fairy Tayl
Institute manager Kevin Deery said his team can overcome the adversities of this season to win promotion to the Premiership tonight.
The Drumahoe outfit travel to Taylor’s Avenue knowing that they must score after a 1-1 draw in the first leg on Tuesday night.
In September ‘Stute midfielder Niall Grace was placed in an induced coma after an incident in the city centre before returning to the squad in December, and Deery pointed to that amongst other off field factors as a testament to the character of his squad.
“The adversity that we’ve had to face all season going back to what happened to Niall and other things, like good friends passing away – there’s been a lot of adversity for us. Hopefully it can carry us over the line,” the Blues boss told the Derry News.
“The only way I’m thinking now is about winning the game. That’s all I have in my mind. Anything better than a 1-1 draw on our behalf gets us through, but I’m solely thinking we can go up to Carrick and win. It’s win this game and you’re promoted.”
The local outfit dominated the first leg two days ago, and they took the lead through Michael McCrudden only to be pegged back moments later through a contentious Marty Murray penalty.
“With the timing of our goal, I felt confident that we were going to push on and then I think the referee is a bit hurried in his decision for the penalty,” admitted Deery.
“It’s a scuffed cross from the Carrick player and I don’t see why Niall wants to handle the ball, as if it’s going to go behind him and they’re going to tuck it into an empty net. It’s in a nothing area and it’s a nothing cross. Sometimes those decisions go for you and sometimes they go against you, and unfortunately it went against us.”
The manager insisted that despite conceding the away goal, his team will take a lot of positives from the game as they prepare to make the trip to Carrickfergus in a bid to end a two year absence from the top flight.
“We showed that we’re a capable match. We probably shaded the game in terms of chances and being the team looking to play on the front foot,” said Deery.
“It would be great if we could predict this crazy game but we can’t. We have to go up and believe that we can win a match, that’s all it is. It’s our last game, hopefully our last as a Championship team, and we’ll be trying to take their Premiership status off them. Hopefully the best team on the day will win this time.”
Tomorrow will be ‘Stute’s fifth game in thirteen days, but Deery said his side are not willing to use tiredness as an excuse.
“We’re an amateur team and we’re trying our best but we’ve had a lot of games. All we can do now is recover and prepare ourselves for another tough battle tomorrow. It’s going to be a war of attrition and if my players really want to go up they’re going to have to go up to Carrick and win the game,” maintained the manager.
“You have to get the idea of tiredness out of your mind. Let’s speak about this being our final chance. We will fight again next year if we have to but we want to take this opportunity. This is the chance to lay everything on the line and I feel I have the players to go up there and give Carrick a run.”
‘Stute will be without top scorer Stephen Curry who picked up a calf injury in Tuesday’s warm-up, while Raymond Foy looks doubtful after leaving the field on the half hour mark.
“Stevie Curry has done his calf and he’ll have absolutely no chance. Raymond Foy has a bad dead leg, and right now I would rule him out,” Deery admitted.
“We’ll plan without the both of them. It’s an opportunity for people to show that it means as much to them to get up as it means to the other boys. That’s what we’re about as a squad.”