Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ROBINSON PROMISES A SWIFT RESPONSE
MARC ROBINSON says Derriaghy will take their medicine and bounce back after they were ruthlessly dismantled by St James’ Swifts in the Steel Cup on Saturday.
The West Belfast men, who only climbed up into the Intermediate ranks this season after securing a berth in the Ballymena League, claimed their second Premier Division scalp of the season with a 6-2 rout of Robinson’s men to take their place in the last 16 of the competition, having already hammered Lisburn Rangers 5-2 in the last round.
Player-manager Robinson was between the sticks for the hosts at the weekend and admitted the scoreline could have been even more emphatic.
“We weren’t at the races, but they were very good,” said the former Loughgall goalkeeper.
“They have a lot of good young players and play good football.
“For us, it was a bad day at the office, we had a few players missing which didn’t help but at the end of the day we didn’t perform to our full potential and it probably could have been double figures for them.
“You have to give them credit and I think with our full squad and playing well they still would have given us a really good game.”
Nevertheless, having started the season brightly before Saturday’s no-show, the 38-year-old stopper won’t be dwelling on the defeat.
In fact, Robinson is convinced the Seycon Park men are set up for a good campaign, with the squad stronger than the one which limped to an 11th place finish in the Amateur League’s top flight last season.
“After last year and finishing so low we expected to do better than we did,” said Robinson, who manages the club alongside Paul Ewart.
“So we want an improvement, we’ve brought a few players in and we’re still trying to add a few more.
“We want to be up there challenging and we want a good cup run, hopefully in the Irish Cup. It would be good to get far and get one of the bigger teams.”
The emergence of Christian Gardiner in the centre of the park has been a bonus for Derriaghy in the early weeks of the season, while new striker Kenny Campbell has hit the ground running with five goals already, fuelling Robinson’s confidence that they can compete at the top end of the table this season, with their 4-1 loss to Rathfriland their only reverse in the league so far.
“We played really well in that game and if we had have taken our chances at the right times, the scoreline could have been completely different but they are a good side,” said the DCC chief.
“We haven’t played Immaculata or Crumlin Star or Ards Rangers so it’s hard to tell what the standard is like but I think we will be all right.
“We’ve had a couple of good wins, it was very important to get a win in the first game of the season [against Malachians]. That sets you off, and then we have had a couple of good wins in the cups. We played Sirocco, they are not a bad side, I think they will do really well, and we beat Bourneview.
“We did the same last year, we did well in the cups, and it ended up killing us in the league, but I think we have a stronger squad this year and will do okay in the league.
“We are creating a lot more chances this season than we did last year, so we just need to make sure we take them.”