Brian Donaghey feels Ballinamallard tomorrow night is a must win game for Institute

​Institute manager Brian Donaghey has described tomorrow night’s home clash against Ballinamallard as ‘a must win game’ for his side.
Institute’s Shaun Doherty gets the ball before H&W Welders’ Matthew Ferguson.Institute’s Shaun Doherty gets the ball before H&W Welders’ Matthew Ferguson.
Institute’s Shaun Doherty gets the ball before H&W Welders’ Matthew Ferguson.

​The Drumahoe club have picked up only eight points from their last 15 league outings and Donaghey admits tomorrow evening’s encounter (KO 7.45pm) is “massive” for his team.

“We have the chance now of getting points on the board on Tuesday night and getting ourselves out of the bottom two,” stated the ’Stute boss, “Our goal difference is still quite good which is a plus for us. It’s in our own hands. We have to get out of this ourselves.

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"We’re getting into the nitty-gritty of it now with seven matches to go and we’re going to have to start winning very quickly. For me, that has to start on Tuesday night.”

Kevin McLaughlin and Simon Collins discuss all things Derry City on the Derry Journal weekly podcast 'Talking Derry City: Everywhere We Go', which is available every Wednesday.Kevin McLaughlin and Simon Collins discuss all things Derry City on the Derry Journal weekly podcast 'Talking Derry City: Everywhere We Go', which is available every Wednesday.
Kevin McLaughlin and Simon Collins discuss all things Derry City on the Derry Journal weekly podcast 'Talking Derry City: Everywhere We Go', which is available every Wednesday.
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After this weekend’s result ’Stute have dropped to second bottom of the Lough 41 Championship table but Donaghey believes his side haven’t been getting the rub of the green, particularly in their last two games.

"The table doesn’t lie and I’m not running away from it,” he insisted. “But I’ve never been involved with a team that has had as much bad luck. It’s probably every game we’re asking how things haven’t gone for us, but the reality is that we’re in the bottom two.

"If that shakes us up a bit, yeah. Are we capable of getting out of trouble? Yeah, but things have to change in the striking department because we need to start getting the goals our play deserves.

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"There’s no doubt about it, we should have got something last week against Warrenpoint and again against Welders. We need to take our chances when they arise, and we need to punish teams when we’re on top.

"Goals change games. Their goal deflated us for 10 or 15 minutes and it was a drab game then, but we came back into it for the last 25 minutes and created chance after chance.

"It just seems they would have had to score an OG before we scored today (Saturday). It was just one of those games where I thought, ‘No matter what we’re going to do here, I can’t see that ball trickling over the line’.”

Donaghey described Welders’ goalkeeper, Michael Argyrides’ performance was ‘one of the best’ he had seen at Championship level and felt that Michael McLellan’s only goal of the match came after a defensive mistake from Dylan King, summing up the lack of luck his side have been getting this campaign.

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“It beggars belief but I’m probably looking at one of the best goalkeeping performances I’ve seen at Championship level for a long time,” he explained. “He’s made four or five, not even good saves, top drawer, world-class saves.

“If we’re sitting in the top four, we probably win that game 4-1 or 5-1. It’s just whatever way your luck goes when you’re down or you’re struggling.

"It would be a much worse conversation if we weren’t creating chances, but we’ve had seven or eight clear cut chances, and not to take any of them is hard to understand.

"We’ve been undone by a good finish by McLellan; if you go back two weeks ago to our home game against Dergview, both goals summed our luck up; one was a deflection and the other one was pinball.

"I just don’t know how much more bad luck this team can take."