UNTOUCHABLES IS THE AIM OF MARK’S 18TH

Miskimmin’s boys want unbeaten run to title

MARK MISKIMMIN has revealed his players’ desire to finish their league campaign unbeaten as 18th Newtownabbey close in on the 1C title.

The Cloyne Crescent outfit took another huge stride towards a spring coronation with a 3-0 defeat of third-placed Bryansburn Rangers on Saturday, extending their lead at the top of the table to eight points.

By Miskimmin’s reckoning, just five or six wins from their remaining 10 games should be enough to see them crowned as champions, while as little as three could suffice in securing their number one target at the start of the season, promotion.

Having racked up an impressive 13 league wins from 14 outings so far, that surely is a mere formality with Miskimmin’s men now settling on another target, namely sending out a statement by wrapping it up in style.

“I think six wins will be enough to win us the league,” said the 18th playermanager, who was on target in Saturday’s 3-0 home victory.

“The teams in second, third and fourth are all fighting and they all have to play each other twice.

“We just need to do our thing and get as many wins under our belt as we can.

“We are still unbeaten in the league and even if we take it to the very last game unbeaten, I know the lads will still be determined to finish it unbeaten because they have that never-say-die attitude.

“Bangor Swifts are the only team to take points off us and I was suspended for that game, Mark Marshall was missing, Matty Johnson was out, Ross Miskimmin was missing... we had five or six out that day and it was our first game after Christmas so everyone was lethargic so it was disappointing to lose points there, but if you had have said 13 wins and a draw at the start of the season, we would have definitely taken it.

“But we aren’t looking at the fixtures for other teams, we know if we do our job we will win the league. We set out at the start of the season to win promotion but now we definitely want to go on and win the league. “We still have some tough games, we have Rosemount home and away, we know that will be tough, and we still have to play Shorts, we still have to go to Suffolk.

“But we fancy our chances, we’ll never go into a game trying to sit back, we go and try to dominate the game and try to get an early goal.

“Seven wins guarantees it for us but I’d say five or six with other teams taking points off each other will be enough.”

Now into his second full season as manager, Miskimmin says the most satisfying aspect of his team’s seemingly unstoppable march to the title is the fact it vindicates the choices he made over the summer when many doubted him.

“We lost four or five players last year and to be honest we would have liked to keep one or two of them but they didn’t really think we were going in the right direction for whatever reason,” said the former Linfield and Glentoran striker.

“So it is good to really prove people wrong, we had a great start and the players we have brought in have been really good.

“Gavin Robb in nets has been outstanding for us, he makes crucial saves every week. We one or two steps ahead of most people and he’s been absolutely super.

“And then Glenn [Miskimmin] has came back from Rathfern. He was man of the match yesterday by an absolute mile, he won everything, held the ball up and to play up front with someone like that makes everything so much easier.

“He’s a big player for us. Teams don’t know how to play against him and if we keep him fit, he’s definitely key to what we do.

“So keeping the players I wanted to keep and bringing in those more experienced players has helped us.

“And then we have brought in John Jones and Robert Mcdowell. They take all the training and the training is absolutely super, fitness-wise we are definitely better this year than we were last year.”

Miskimmin, Matty Johnston and Josh Mannus all netted on Saturday as the hosts completed a league double over John Johnston’s promotion contenders.

“Once we scored the first goal, we settled down and after that I felt we had control of the game,” said Miskimmin.

“I felt we could have scored a few more if our finishing had been better and certainly I felt we should have had a penalty near the end.

“But listen, we’re happy with the win. If someone had have offered us it at the start of the game we would have taken it, we would have taken a 1-0 or

2-0.

“But it was great just to get the win and to get that cushion now between us and Bryansburn.”