The Drumahoe club claimed that such a move would have serious implications for their players’ pre-match preparations and while fully supporting the ‘Glens’ in their bid to reach the Setanta Cup final, ‘Stute maintained that staging the match tonight would bring no shortage of problems for its playing staff in relation to work commitments.

The match, therefore, will kick-off as scheduled at three o’clock tomorrow afternoon and ‘Stute boss, John Gregg, will face a major challenge as he attempts to preserve what has been a recent bout of good form.

Institute have taken seven points from a possible nine in recent weeks and while appreciating the difficulty of gaining a favourable result at The Oval, the Coleraine man was confident in the ability of his playing staff.

However, the club’s influential skipper, Ruari Boyle, must sit out an automatic one match ban following his dismissal on Saturday last against Dungannon Swifts with Sean Roddy expected to don the No. 2 jersey.

“The spirit and confidence in the dressing room has been fantastic over recent weeks,” declared Gregg last night. “The players have really responded after a poor start to the season and while we’ll certainly miss Ruari’s influence on Saturday, we have players capable of stepping in to do a job,” he said.

“We’ve been working very hard as a unit and we’ve been getting results. The team, overall, has been excellent but I’d have to single out the performances of David Ogilby and Paddy McLaughlin who have been particularly impressive in the heart of our defence,” noted Gregg.

“Obviously Saturday’s match is a major challenge for us but we’re ready for it and the absence of some players due to injury and suspension is a window of opportunity for others to step in and nail down a first team jersey. I’ve already told the players about that, play well and keep the jersey, that’s the policy which has been adopted,” added the team boss.

On the team front striker, Kevin Ramsey and defender, Mark Scoltock, have resumed training and while tomorrow’s match will come too early for both, Gregg was delighted that progress was being made in the treatment room.

“John O’Loughlin is fit and will be added to the squad travelling to The Oval but Declan Divin is not ready just yet but we’re making progress,” he concluded.