Institute ready to welcome 500 Linfield fans for historic Irish Cup quarter-final at Brandywell

​Kevin Deery's troops are well positioned to challenge for promotion from the NIFL Championship this year and Russell hopes the visit of the Blues to Derry will become a regular occurrence.

It's the first time Institute has played a competitive fixture on a Sunday but they've shown in the past they can safely and successfully host the big Belfast clubs at both their old Riverside Stadium base and Brandywell.

There's been lots of groundwork going on behind the scenes by both Institute and Linfield, the PSNI and local community leaders once the fixture got the green light and Russell can't wait for what could turn out to be a 'momentous occasion' as he finally gets to concentrate on matters on the pitch.

"I know we had the extra pressure of the Ards protest but now it's something we can look forward to. There's been a lot of talks, a lot of good work done between Linfield and ourselves," he explained. "People forget that since the Setanta Cup incidents, there's been a lot of good work done.

"People are talking about Linfield coming to Brandywell and security concerns but we want these occasions to be the norm. We want to be back in the Premier League. We want to be attracting Glentoran, Cliftonville, Ballymena whoever to the Brandywell on a fortnightly basis.

"Linfield have been here before as has all other Premier League clubs and every single one of them so far, have passed off peacefully. We're planning for the same on Sunday. We're not planning for any disruption or negativity around such a fixture.

"It will be fantastic to see Linfield coming to the Brandywell and showing as a city, we've all moved on and returned to normality."

The club has been hosting ticket sale sessions at Brandywell and Bready Cricket Club all week and the excitement is building.

"We will probably have ticket sale sessions on every day now until Sunday," he said. "Linfield will probably bring in around 450 or 500 fans and I would expect us to have around 400 or 450. Fans can look forward to what should be a great game.

"Come along watch our match and then head on and watch Man City and Man United at 3.30pm after hopefully a good Irish Cup quarter-final."

Institute hasn't been shy of the headlines in recent years as it's lost its traditional home to floods, Japanese knotweed and fires, played an entire season on the road, was relegated when Covid hit despite having seven games remaining and missed out on an entire year of football.

This fixture allows the club to have their day in the sun again but Russell isn't content on just making up the numbers and the club has real ambitions in both the league and cup.

"We've been flooded out in 2017 and have had our ups and downs and hopefully this will be a successful event for everybody but especially on the pitch too because we're not just here to make up the numbers in the quarter-finals. We have aspirations of beating Linfield and progressing further in the Irish Cup.”

"I hope the guys do themselves proud and showcase how good they are. They all want to progress. There's a lot of young kids and this is an opportunity to go out there and really show what they can do. They all have aspirations of playing in the Premier League so this is a good test for them."

It's the type of match which doesn't need the big sell but Russell hopes as many football fans as possible come out and lend their support on Sunday.

"It's one of the top teams in the Championship against one of the best teams in the country. We're getting there on a Sunday - the first Sunday fixture for Institute Football Club and if it's on your doorstep in a fantastic facility - I don't know what local football fans could want more.

"It's young, local talent. They're all local kids performing on such an occasion and hopefully it's a momentous occasion and we can progress into the semi-final."