Sean Connor feels it's a 'straight dog-fight' between Institute and Warrenpoint Town

Institute manager Sean Connor still believes in what he’s doing and in his squad.
Institute manager Sean Connor.Institute manager Sean Connor.
Institute manager Sean Connor.

The Drumahoe men slipped to the bottom of the Danske Bank Premiership table after their latest defeat, this time at Dungannon Swifts, combined with Warrenpoint Town’s late victory at Carrick Rangers.

Town scored twice in stoppage time and leapfrogged ’Stute, moving two points clear, but Connor wants to get the fear factor out of his players.

“Look I’ll be honest with you it’s a straight dog-fight between us and Warrenpoint now,” he stated.

“We have got to pick ourselves up and go again and now they are two points above us, but we have got to play them twice and we have to win those games.

“We have got a good bit of work to do, but all we can concentrate on now is our results. There’s 12 games left and we have got to win as many of those games as we possibly can.

“Today (Saturday) things didn’t go our way, but I still believe in what I’m doing here and I still believe in the set-up and the standards we are trying to set with the players.

“However I think now we and we have to try and take that fear and timidness out of them and go and hunt down points.”

The ex-Sligo Rovers manager conceded that his side let the importance of the encounter at Stangmore Park, get to them, as they never performed at all in the first half and were slightly better after the break.

“I’m obviously disappointed with the result,” he added.

“I think the first goal was the key and I think after that it sucked a wee bit of confidence out of our team and I thought the penalty was harsh and were they two goals better than us, not really, but I told the boys afterwards, they did the basics better than us.

“They picked up more second balls, they turned our back four more effectively and put more crosses into the box.

“I just think in their own heads, because we didn’t take about it all, but the enormity of this game and they realised if they lost it and I think that fear was in the team today.”