No points target for Quinn

The Blues’ next three league fixtures are all at home as they face Ballymena United this Friday (kick-off 7.45pm) before hosting Dungannon Swifts next Tuesday (kick-off 7.45pm) and then coming up against Glentoran the following Saturday.

However Quinn isn’t going to give his side a target to hit for fear of becoming ‘cocky’ after their bright start to this season’s league campaign, preferring to take these matches one game at a time.

He said: “I said at the start of the season that we’d target nine points from our first three games but we’d have accepted seven. We achieved what we wanted to do but we’ll not be cocky now. I haven’t set another points target. I think I’d be pushing my luck too far.

“We’ll do our best to get the three points on Friday night and then we’ll take it as it comes.

“Ballymena are hot and cold at the minute. They got beaten 4-0 by DC and then went and got a 3-1 win at Portadown. It was a marvellous turnaround so they’ll be coming to Mid-Ulster again in a confident sort of a mood. That’s the way I’d like it rather than them coming down having not won in a few games. We have to win our home games now and get a few points on the board.

“Conor Walsh will become available again for that one. Conor did very well in our opening two league games. There’s a good possibility that he’ll come back in. He’s the team skipper and as I say he’s done very well.”

After that, Walsh and his team will have to start the preparations for their fourth successive home game with Dungannon this time the opposition. Like Ballymena, the Swifts have had a somewhat topsy-turvy opening to the season, with a 2-1 victory over Linfield sandwiched between defeats to Newry and Cliftonville.

Their trip to Mourneview Park is a game that Quinn is hoping to win with the Swifts having come out victorious in two of last season’s three league meetings between the sides.

“They’ve had the upper hand on us in the last few games so we desperately want to win that game,” he said.

“I went to see them playing Cliftonville last Friday and they’re not a bad side. They weren’t outplayed by Cliftonville by any means. Dungannon were hard to beat and (Timmy) Adamson’s a handful. He has a habit of scoring goals against ourselves but hopefully we can sort that out. Defensively we’re a lot tighter than we were so hopefully we can stay that way.”