Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
OUR EYE IS ON THE BALL Mccready: We’ll get it down and play to win
QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY have no intention of abandoning their free-flowing style in pursuit of a glorious end to the season.
That was the message from inside the dressing room as they look to seal a place in the final of the Match Intermediate Cup tomorrow.
The students go into their semifinal clash with Glebe Rangers at Dixon Park knowing their PIL promotion rivals Dundela await the winners in the final.
They could end up slugging it out with the Duns for the title and a trophy before the campaign concludes.
But nobody in the Queen’s camp is looking that far ahead.
In fact their only focus is on the next game – and that’s the one which takes them to Ballyclare to face the Glebe.
Queen’s top scorer Ryan Mccready told Match on Tuesday: “These are the sort of competitions you want to get to the latter stages of.
“And it’s cup finals which you dream of.
“I think it’s been a while since Queen’s were in a cup final so we’d love to get them there.
“And the fact the final is at Windsor Park is an extra incentive to get there.
“But we know it’s not going to be easy on Wednesday.
“Glebe are a big, physical side who will be well up for this game.
“We have to try and focus on ourselves and try to keep doing what we’ve done throughout the season.
“We will always try and get the ball down and play football.
“Peter has it drilled into us from day one in pre-season, that’s the style of play he wants from us.
“And full credit to him and his coaching team, it’s worked more often than not.
“On our day, I don’t think there’s a team in our league who can live with us.
“We don’t ever panic if we go behind. There are plenty of examples of games we’ve come back in to win this season.”
Mccready has bagged 10 league goals so far this season – one more than team-mate Matt Hughes.
They’re both part of a span of goalscorers for a side which gets them from all corners of the pitch.
Saturday’s surprising defeat at Tobermore United was the first time Queen’s have failed to score in the league since the middle of August.
Mccready’s displays are believed to have caught the eye of top-flight clubs but he was quick to heap praise on those he shares a changing room with.
“This is my first season at Queen’s and I’ve been pretty pleased with how it’s gone so far,” he said.
“We have such a creative team, it’s great to play with these lads because everyone has been excellent.
“There’s no real standout player, we have a really good set of players and, importantly, all have the right mentality and attitude.
“The hardest part of the season is still to come so we have to continue to do what we’ve been doing.
“Everything is still to play for, in the cup and the league.
“It doesn’t matter who we’ve beaten or how we’ve played so far, we have to keep going.
“We’re fully aware that nothing is won as yet. We’re not thinking about the final even, we’re just focusing on the next game.
“You work so hard to be involved in big games at this stage of the season so we have to try and finish the job now.”