’Stute gaffer well aware of Belfast men’s cup pedigree

Michael McCrudden is delighted after his goal as Institute gain a 6-1 win over Larne on Saturday.

The Intermediate Cup holders are coming up against a side who only a few weeks ago narrowly lost 2-1 to Premiership title contenders Crusaders in the Irish Cup and because of that Kee knows what his side is going to be up against.

“My players certainly won’t be underestimating Crumlin,” he declared.

“They know how good Crumlin are, they are flying and they did well against Dundela in the Steel & Sons Cup before narrowly losing, they were unlucky to lose to Crusaders in the Irish Cup.

“So we know what we are going up against, they also try to play football and play the game the right way.

“We are going to have to make sure that we are on the money and if we aren’t then we are going to end up with egg on our face.”

Having produced arguably their best display of the season last weekend when they hammered Larne 6-1, Kee is slightly disappointed his side isn’t back in league action this Saturday.

Nevertheless a cup tie followed by the Billy Kee Memorial match against Derry City will be a time for the likes of Stephen O’Flynn, Stephen Parkhouse, Aaron Walsh and Darren McFadden all to get some much needed game time under the belts.

“Another league game would have been nice, but a cup tie means we can give players a bit of time who needs to get fitter and stronger for the league campaign.

“The likes of O’Flynn, Parkhouse could be doing with more minutes as well as Aaron Walsh and (Michael) McCrudden, so the cup and friendly against Derry City over the next couple of weeks will be good.

“Everyone will want to play in the Derry game because of obvious reasons and hopefully (Darren) McFadden will be fit.”

Despite possibly wanting to use his squad and play the likes of Robbie Hume, McFadden and Ryan Varma against the Northern Amateur Football League Division 1A side, Kee knows it maybe hard to change a winning side.

“I could use the squad, but at the same time some of the senior players need games,” Kee stated.

“In fairness to Parkie and O’Flynn they scored three between them on Saturday, while McCrudden scored a hat-trick and McCauley was also excellent, so those front four will be looking to play again this weekend.

“I wanted to bring Gary Henderson back for the Larne game as I wanted a bit of steel in midfield and him and (Aaron) Walsh played well together.

“Ryan Varma can be very disappointed that he didn’t play because he was excellent at Coagh, but I just thought we need a bit more particularly in midfield, because knowing Larne they are a big physical team and they battered us a few weeks ago at their place, so making chances this weekend could be difficult.”