Time to cop on for Institute as they face a crucial league game today against the PSNI

Institute are looking to put an end to their rollercoaster form in 2017 by defeating PSNI this afternoon.

Kevin Deery’s team have won three and lost four in all competitions since the turn of the new year, with the latest result a home defeat to league leaders Warrenpoint Town at the weekend.

They now face a trip to Belfast to take on a PSNI team that have their eyes on ‘Stute’s third place position – and they will be confident of getting it after defeating the Blues just one month ago.

Deery’s side are only two points ahead of their opponents and they know that this game is a must win if that want to consolidate their position in the top three heading into the home stretch of the season.

At the end of the season the second and third placed teams will face one another for a chance at a promotion play-off with the second bottom side in the Premier Division.

Another significant factor is that ‘Stute are themselves just one point behind Ballyclare Comrades above them, and they know that victory this weekend would really put the pressure on the men in red.

It will certainly not be an easy task, but Deery insists that his team must use the positives from their performance against Warrenpoint to get three points.

“I was disappointed with the result but not with the performance or the effort. There’s no secrets, we just have to go in and show the same attitude,” he told the Derry News.

“I feel that we have an excellent chance of winning because we have the right mentality and the skill to show, we just didn’t take our chances against Warrenpoint. We have to look forward to it.”

While it is easy to be overawed by the sixteen points that now stand between ‘Stute and the league leaders, the manager said his team must instead look at how little there is between themselves and Ballyclare, and concentrate on getting themselves into second place.

“Our sole focus has switched after the defeat at the weekend. A win would have clawed some points back but now our focus is finishing in the top three, preferably second.

“There is plenty for us to play for but we need to be grinding out results to get there.”

The Blues know all too well the threat that PSNI have. A first half goal from Stuart Hutchinson was all that separated the teams four weeks ago, and with their opponents coming off an excellent 3-0 win over Ballyclare Deery is expecting an even more difficult test than the last.

“They’ve gone on an excellent run since mid-season and have accumulated a lot of points up to now,” he explained.

“When we last played them it was a difficult game. They were struggling to create chances but credit to them because they took one when it came.

“We have to ask more questions of them. If we show the same attitude we have recently we will be alright but if we go into it with the mind-set that they are lesser than us, we’ll come out on the wrong side of the result,” he added.

Despite their up and down form of late, Deery maintains that if they can string a few wins together they will put themselves in a prime position to secure a top three spot.

“We have to win our next two matches if we want to be serious candidates.

“We were looking forward to the split and now there’s a couple of games against the surprise packages.

He continued: “If we’re serious about getting promoted to the Premier Division then the first step is to try and build a winning run.”