Institute on the road again at Warrenpoint

The Drumahoe club suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat at leaders, Loughgall, last weekend, but Doherty was taking the positives from the result.

The 28-year-old, who felt ’Stute played well and deserved more from Lakeview Park, believes if they can secure three points tomorrow afternoon then confidence in the camp would rocket.

"We definitely can take positives from last week and, to be honest, I think in most games we’ve done well but have been lucky,” explained Doherty.

"We’ve been unlucky but, at the same time, we probably should have been doing more in some of those games. Last week I thought it was nip and tuck and if you can go toe-to-toe with the top team at their place then it gives you a bit of confidence that you can compete with most teams.”

The Moville native says facing Loughgall and Warrenpoint in consecutive weeks is something that holds no fears, especially at this time of the season.

"They are probably two of the toughest away games in the league. I was actually looking at the table and I noticed we’ve only played three games at home, everybody else has played a lot more than that. The good thing about that is, maybe around Christmas time, we’ll get a run of games at home,” he stated.

"To be honest I don’t mind getting the away games out of the way at the start of the season, especially places like Warrenpoint and Loughgall, because their pitches will start to tear up around November/December time so maybe it’s not a bad time to play them now.

"If we could beat Warrenpoint then that would definitely give you confidence. I’ve looked at their team and I don’t think they’ve lost a lot of players from their Premiership side. I think because they got off to a poor start people were writing them off but they have won four of their last five leagues games.

"They haven’t been beaten in the league since August and are unbeaten in their last five league matches so, if you can beat them, then for sure our confidence will be up.”

The ex-Finn Harps man feels that Brian Donaghey’s squad is now more competitive and solid which he believes means they are a better balanced side than last year.

"The games against the (Harland & Wolff) Welders and Glentoran were bad but apart from that we have been solid enough and haven’t been giving away many chances,” he added.

"Compared to last season we are more solid. Even against Loughgall, they didn’t have many chances and they are the top team in the league so if you can defend well against them then you’re doing alright.

"This season we’re more solid with Dylan (Doherty) and Rhys (McDermott) moving over to right-back has meant our whole defence is more solid and were definitely strong at the back compared to last year.

"If you can get clean-sheets in this league then you’re giving yourself a chance to picking up points and that’s what we want, so we can start moving up the table.”