Institute boss Brian Donaghey thrilled with deserved win over Ards

Goals from Cathair Friel and Mark McFadden sealed victory over Matthew Tipton’s men, who had come into the game full of confidence having won their previous three league games in a row.

For Donaghey he was thrilled for his squad who got back to winning ways after suffering two defeats on the road at Loughgall and Warrenpoint Town.

"We have been very good here at the Brandywell and I think some of our better performances have been here, but I have to admit that performance has been coming,” he insisted.

"The only difference in the previous two games is that we didn’t score. If we had scored first at Loughgall and Warrenpoint we wouldn't lose either game, that’s guaranteed.

"I’m delighted for the boys, because their performances I couldn’t really complain about and I can’t be too hard on them, but we’re close to putting in near perfect performances and getting caught out, but today I’m glad that we saw the game out and got our three points.

"The win means it tightens up that wee group in the middle section of the table and we have another four home games out of six coming up and hopefully if we can make the Brandywell a fortress then we’ll hopefully continue our good form at home.

"We seem to be playing the conditions and the size and the width of the pitch a lot better.

"I thought Cormac Burke was excellent today. He stayed on the ball, his delivery from set-pieces was excellent, running at people creating things, he’s coming into his own and he put in a top drawer display.

"It was a very work-man-like performance but there was a lot of quality play at times as well.”

Donaghey also felt his side played the windy conditions better and in the end that played a big role in the outcome.

The Waterside men in truth should have been further ahead at the break with Friel and Mark McFadden both missing clear cut chances, while at the other end Dylan Doherty made at least one big important save.

However it was those missed opportunities that frustrated Donaghey.

"I think the key today was that we probably handled the conditions slightly better,” he added. "I think we learned from them over hitting passes in the first half and we probably took a wee bit off ours in the second half, but even against the wind we had a couple of really good chances after getting a lot of good deliveries into the box.

“Cathair won’t want me to mention it, but that one that comes off the crossbar back to him, it’s a tap-in for him, but he redeemed himself because his header was superb. He’s going away from goal and he had to generate all the power himself and his header was first class.

"I think probably on the balance of play we probably deserved to be 1-0 up at half-time and I felt we managed the game really well in the second half. We always knew they have got talented players and that they could hurt us, so to keep a clean-sheet in those conditions is a massive achievement for the boys.”