McLaughlin admits Stute rode their luck in taking three points

INSTITUTE manager Paddy McLaughlin was thrilled to secure a memorable Danske Bank Premiership opening day win over Newry City thanks to a first half goal from Michael McCrudden.

The Stute boss (right) did, however, hold his hands up and admitted his side were fortunate to secure the win at a sun-soaked Brandywell.

“That’s one game down, now there’s only another 37 to go,” he smiled.

“In the last couple of minutes they started going very direct and they put us under a lot of pressure, but you can’t give the boys enough credit for how they dug in to keep a clean sheet.”

As for Newry gaffer Darren Mullen he felt his players did enough to earn something from their trip to Foyleside.

“Sometimes you need that little bit of luck in games and we didn’t get it today,” he stated.

“Last year we scored a late goal against Institute and got a wee bit of luck then, but it didn’t happen today, but we showed enough that we are capable of playing at this level.

“We haven’t set ourselves any targets. We want to finish as high as possible, but we need to start picking points up as early as possible and we have a good chance now on Friday, our first home game against Dungannon.”

INSTITUTE: Gallagher, R Morrow, McLaughlin, Bonner, Curry, Dunne (McIntyre, 82 mins), Harkin, Curry (Wilson, 67 mins), McCrudden, Moorehead (Brown, 88 mins), Morrow.

NEWRY: Maguire, King, Noonan, Boyle, Healy (Rushe, 46 mins), McCann, Carville, S Hughes (Walker, 78 mins), Taggart (Delaney, 63 mins), McCabe, M Hughes. Referee: Steven Taylor (Belfast) 6.

Man of the match: Callum Moorehead Match rating: 6/10