Kee wary of Dergview

INSTITUTE manager Paul Kee is expecting a tough encounter at Dergview on Saturday (KO 3pm).

The County Tyrone side, who lost 4-0 at Dundela last weekend and because of that result Kee believes Darragh Park will be a hard place to get anything from.

“They will be like a wounded animal so they will want to bounce back,” insisted Kee.

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“That defeat will probably have galvanised them and because of that we have to make sure that we are up for the fight and then play our game.

“Our last two games against Carrick and Tobermore there has been good resilience and we have had to dig in, in both matches to get something from the games and that’s a credit to the players.

“In the first match Carrick upped the ante and we had to show a bit of character and we did, we also had to have a couple of big performances and we did. Alan Ryan in particular made a significant number of saves and kept us in the game.

“Then on Friday night when (Ryan) Semple got sent-off we had to double up and work that little bit harder and again we did that.”

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Although the ’Stute gaffer is expecting a physical encounter, he also believes a good game is on the cards.

“In fairness I know Tommy Canning quite well, he’ll be trying to play a footballing game as well and they’ll want to put their stamp on the game and because of that I feel it will be a decent enough football match.

“I do think that they’ll class it as a derby match because a lot of the people know each other and the players know each other, so it will be competitive, but every game is going to be the same in the Championship and we have to make sure that we work just as hard as any side we are playing and then I’m confident our game will come through.

“In fairness I think we are getting there, we have a lot more resilience and resolute in the squad and we have a better approach, mentally and physically, but we have to keep that up and then continue to add and work at our technical and tactical side of the game and looking to develop a level of consistency.

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“I feel if you work and improve around 10 or 20 per cent on those four areas in your game, then you are going to have a better package of a player and team and I think that is were we are going at the minute,” he added.

The Waterside men will be without winger Ryan Semple through suspension, however the Drumahoe man believes this season his squad is more than capable of coping with players missing.

“We have a lot more players to select from this season and we have more competition for places and that is going to be interesting to see how that pans out over the next few weeks, because the transfer window shuts at the end of the month and then from September onwards you will be working with whatever players you have in your squad.

“Footballers now all want to play but they are going to have to realise the team is the most important thing and you can’t go through a season with 14 or 15 players, so football is a squad game now.”

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