Kee remains confident of progress

Kee couldn’t hide his disappointment that his side failed to overcome Premiership side Donegal Celtic, on Saturday.

“We are still in the hat, which is the most important thing, but the only downside is that they’ll be better prepared for us,” said Kee.

“They now know that we like to try and play football and build up from the back and that’s a disadvantage to us.

“But it’s a big pitch up there, it’s a nice wee ground and if we can go and play and give a good account of ourselves and play with the same enthusiasm and effort, which we have been doing, then we are definitely capable of winning.

“To be honest I’m not going to be thinking about the Cliftonville tie, because I’m only worried about our next game, which is a big game at Ballinamallard United.

“Then we have Donegal Celtic again and that’s good for the players, as it makes training easy, it keeps players on edge and you can keep training at a good level because they know that big games are coming up.

“In fairness you probably won’t use the same players all the time and I’m sure by the time we come to the replay, we will have another two or three players on board, but I’m pleased with the way things are progressing with the season.

“I told the players after the game that it’s only a cup tie and yes it is the main cup competition, but I’m more interested in what we do for the rest of the season.”

The Waterside men in truth probably should have won the JJB Sports Irish Cup tie at the weekend, but their achilles heel of not taking their chances came back to haunt them.

“I’m disappointed that we didn’t hold out for the win,” added Kee.

“We controlled the second half and if I’m to be honest I think they shaded the first half. They started well from the whistle until around the 25th minute and then we started to come into the game and the last 15 minutes of the half we definitely were more than a match for them.

“Then when Parky (Stephen Parkhouse) scored it gave everyone a big lift and then the first 25 minutes of the second half I thought we were tremendous and Corey (Wilson) in our goals didn’t have anything to do.

“I think we surprised Celtic, we had a fair amount of ownership of the game, we had a lot of control, we grew with the game as it went on and we played a nice passing game.

“We had four or five chances in the second half and if you score the second goal it means that they need to score two to even get a replay and I didn’t think they were capable of doing that, but we are back to the drawing board now.”

The Drumahoe man also gave special mention to young keeper Corey Wilson, who not for the first time this season had a great game.

“In fairness to Wilson he did really well in the first half, he made four or five really good saves and he’s starting to show his pedigree as a goalkeeper.

“He’s got great qualities, obviously because he’s lean he has got good athleticism, he takes crosses and he’s definitely one for the future, which will hopefully see him develop further.”