Ferguson seeks job ‘Weld’ done from players in cup tie

The Sky Blues are in knockout competition action tonight (Tuesday) when they take on Harland & Wolff Welders with a place in the quarter-finals of the Irn Bru League Cup at stake.

The match at the Showgrounds (7.45pm) represents an excellent chance for United to reach the quarter-finals of the country’s second biggest cup competition, while they also have a County Antrim Shield semi-final date with Donegal Celtic at the end of this month.

But Ferguson is wary of the threat posed by the Championship One side, who have a number of former top-flight players in their ranks, including ex-Sky Blues Paul Muir and Nathan McConnell.

“We want to try and stay in cup competitions for as long as possible and get good runs in them.

“For one thing it generates finances and it also keeps the players on their toes and the further they progress in competitions, the more confidence it gives them.

“Not too many players in our changing room have won medals in their careers so far so these competitions maybe give them a chance to change that.

“Lower division teams often treat games like this as their cup final.

“The Welders will want to claim a big scalp and they’ve already done it by knocking out Donegal Celtic in the last round.

“They have a lot of experienced players who have played at senior level and we will certainly not be taking anything for granted – we will go out with the same attitude we showed at Portadown.”

Ferguson is likely to use the fixture to give some much-needed game time to players like Alan Davidson and James Costello, both of whom are returning from injury.

And he admits he will have to shuffle his pack with a number of players carrying injuries from the 2-2 weekend draw at Portadown.

“David Cushley, Gavin Taggart and Aaron Stewart all picked up knocks on Saturday and they are struggling.

“We didn’t play Johnny Taylor on Saturday because he has a strain rather than a dead leg which we thought initially and we didn’t run the risk of maybe losing him for three or four weeks.

“The injuries show that the players are putting themselves in positions where they are going to get injured – they are putting their bodies on the line for the cause - but there are others coming back who will need some match time so we will look at what we’re going to do for Tuesday 
night.

On Saturday, United return to Danske Bank Premiership action with a home match against Glenavon (3pm), which will be preceded by the club’s first corporate lunch of the 
season.

The match ball for Saturday’s game is sponsored by The Kiosk Newsagents, Ballymena Railway Station (proprietors Norman and Ian Armstrong).