Weir is confident Ards will start climbing table

ARDS co-captain Becky Weir believes her team have turned the corner and insists they’ll go into the second half of the EY Irish Hockey League campaign with the aim of moving up.

The north Down outfit have just two points from nine games going into the winter break but they have found their goalscoring touch in recent weeks, with eight in their last three games against top-flight opposition.

On Saturday, Ards beat Belfast Harlequins 3-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the Irish Senior Cup and that result has only added to their renewed sense of self-belief.

Weir said: “It’s great to be in the last eight after a deserved win for the team. We went out with the belief we could win following our tight league fixture a few weeks previously.

“We dominated the game and hadexpectedQuinstotaketheir keeper off again when we went 3-1 up, so we prepared for that.

“The win had been a long time coming and I couldn’t be happier for the squad to have got it against a great team with World Cup players in it.

“It’s great to finish our Irish competitions with a win, to give us the boost for after the Christmas break.

“As far as the league goes, our games, bar a couple, have been tight with close scorelines, and week by week our performances have been improving in a league full of talent.

“I can appreciate that, as an outsider looking in, it may ap- pear to be a torrid season at Ards, but I can assure you that couldn’t be further from the feeling in the camp.

“We have an aim for this season which doesn’t centre on avoiding the bottom two but more on reaching a target we fully believe we can achieve after the Christmas break.”

On Saturday, Ards can book their place in the semi-finals of the Denman Ulster Shield with a win over Rainey, having won the famous trophy two years in a row before the IHL teams were excluded three seasons ago, only to be readmitted.

Weir added: “It’s great to be back involved in the Shield as it holds so many great memories for us as a club. We are delighted to have two wins out of two so far and our aim is to top the group and reach the last four after Saturday’s game.”

There are also four Shield games down for decision tonight, with Harlequins hoping to get back to winning ways against Lurgan and IHL leaders Pegasus hosting Banbridge.

Dungannon, meanwhile, face Randalstown with Mossley hosting Ulster Elks and Ballymoney at home to Lisnagarvey in the other matches.

The Shield continues on Saturday with four more games, while it’s also the last round of games in IHL2 before the break.

Dungannon and Lurgan will probably have to take something from their away games with Catholic Institute and NUIG respectively if they are to keep their slim hopes of a top-two finish alive.

Looking up: Ards’ Becky Weir