Institute vs Knockbreda Preview: Things can only get Breda

The home stretch is in sight for Institute as they prepare for the NIFL Championship league split. The next three months will determine whether Kevin Deery’s side will gain promotion by either winning the league or making the play-off position. They currently sit in third place, seven points behind Ballyclare Comrades just above them, and thirteen behind Warrenpoint Town in the top spot. Knockbreda are the visitors to Drumahoe on Saturday, and three points are needed for ‘Stute before they find out their fixture list after the split. It was a rollercoaster January for the Blues who lost league games again Lurgan Celtic and PSNI before crashing out of the Irish Cup to Linfield in controversial circumstances last weekend. Despite three refereeing decisions not going their way manager Deery said his squad can take a lot of positives from performing so well against a high profile Premiership team. “I think we were unlucky not to have a couple of goals in that game. We pushed hard in the second half and left gaps and we certainly feel that luck was against us but you just have to keep working hard,” the manager told the Derry News. “We’re looking forward to Saturday and we know we need to take our chances in that game when they present themselves.” The Blues hosted Finn Harps on Tuesday night in a friendly that, despite losing 2-0, the manager felt was beneficial for his team. “We were really happy with the first half. All the players that haven’t played as much recently got a run out for the opening 45 and arguably we were the better showing. We were good defensively but one shot goes through the wall and they are one nil up at the break,” Deery said. “The second half was a bit stop start. Aaron Jarvis went off and had to come back on again. It was a bit ragged from both teams really. You could see they were in pre-season and we didn’t do enough to score goals. “Darryl (McDermott) and Sammy (Morrow) should have scored with two headers. We really had them in the first half, the way we went after them and played with loads of energy,” he added. Focusing on the league, PSNI are now just two points behind ‘Stute in fourth place and Deery agreed that they need to get a win to keep a hold of their position in the table. “We certainly need a victory to cement our third place, at least going into the split and then you know who your opposition are and you can start planning. We’ll look forward to those fixtures. It’s going to be ten really tough games but it’s where you want to be,” admitted the manager. “You want to challenge Warrenpoint, Ballyclare and whoever else makes it in. We feel we have a point to prove in these next eleven games, and we’re keen to use the positives from the weekend. We had a good game against Harps and we’ll do some light work now so we’re fresh and can have a go at Knockbreda.” While this week’s opponents currently occupy tenth place in the table and have no way of getting into the top six, Deery is fully expecting the Belfast team to put up a challenge. “There are no easy games in this league and I know their manager well. He did his ‘A’ licence with me and he’s a competitor and he wants to win football matches,” he insisted. “All of us feel down on a Saturday if we don’t win and his team will be no different. I expect them to come up here and have a good go at us to try and cement themselves as high up the league as they can because there’s still a lot to play for in that bottom half.” New signing Kyle Friel-Curran played 45 minutes against Harps while Sammy Morrow came agonisingly close to his first goal for the club with a header that hit the crossbar. “With Kyle, he’s coming from Dergview and no disrespect but we try and play a bit differently from them so it will take him a bit of time. He felt his back at half-time on Tuesday so we had to be smart about it and take him off,” Deery explained. “Sammy’s the same. He hasn’t played a whole lot of games before coming here and it’s a different sort of way that we play. We have a lot of intensity in our game and it will take them another few weeks but we need them to start stepping up for us.” ‘Stute have picked up seven points from a possible 21 in recent games and Deery agreed that his team must show their worth in upcoming weeks after making it difficult for themselves. “It’s really hard. We feel we need at least seven or eight wins out of the eleven fixtures left. Really that much if we’re being realistic about it,” admitted the manager. “I have to speak to the club about what the format is with second and third. Obviously we want to stay in that top three and keep ourselves on the tail of the top two but it will certainly be difficult with regards to Warrenpoint. When it comes to them, we’ve given ourselves a very big mountain to climb,” he concluded.