Harkin misses cup finalas old boy is to return

The Waterside men, who defeated Coleraine a few weeks ago to retain the North West Senior Cup, owe the home side one, after they suffered a 2-0 defeat in the league last month.

’Stute’s Head of Development Paul Kee is expecting another tough encounter, but he’s confident a different outcome will happen next Monday morning and he maybe using some remarks United boss Jonny Law made recently to spurn his team on.

“It doesn’t matter that we battered them football wise, they won the match a few weeks ago and that’s the way it is,” explained Kee.

“I was reading the paper last week and I was interested to read some of Jonny Law’s comments where all the teams that he thinks are decent in the league, there was no mention of ’Stute, so obviously he feels they’ll be on equal terms as us.

“It is a final, which normally attracts a good crowd and has a good atmosphere, it will be interesting to see how people have got over Christmas Day, but we are definitely going to have to be on the money, it is about who plays well on the day then they should have the best opportunity of winning the cup, but we are going to try and give a good account of ourselves.

“Granted they are at home but at the end of the day I would like to think we will have a full squad to pick from, apart from Neil Harkin because of his suspension and Thomas (McBride) is struggling with a shoulder problem, and that will mean we’ll have a number of good options.”

The Northern Ireland Under 17 boss feels that striker Stephen Parkhouse could play a big part in Monday’s final.

“In the last game we played them, they were at it and they are going to be more or less the same, but I think we’ll be different this time, because Parkie will hopefully be fit and raring to go.

“When we are playing well, he seems to be playing well and over the last few games he has been doing very well for us and his physical presence will help us against Tobermore.”

Kee also remarked that ’Stute, who secured their third win in a row at Banbridge Town last weekend, really are coming into ‘crunch time’ in their season and he feels the players know that there is no room for error over the coming weeks.

“We are now at the business end of the season at the half way point, so after the Banbridge win we are now at the top of the mountain and want to build up some momentum on the way down.

“To be honest I feel we need to win as many games as we can and there is no room for error any more, in the first part of the season you can but now although we are still in touching distance of the leaders, it’s still quite a big margin 10 points behind Ballinamallard, but there is no reason why we can’t give it a bash.

“Depending on who we can bring in then I’m confident we can still get a good push for the second half of the season, but I’m optimistic we can do well.”

One of the those players Kee referred to was experienced winger Ryan Semple, who is likely to re-join the Drumahoe club when the transfer window opens next week.

“Ryan will add something else to the squad, he’s an experienced player, he knows what we are about and he knows what we want and if we can get him fit then I feel he’ll be a significant player for us.”

The club would also like to remind supporters that there will be a bus leaving the Coffee Stop, Drumahoe, at 10.30am sharp, on Boxing Day.

Supporters wishing travel to the final on the bus should contact Andrew Russell or Trevor Hewitt to book their place.