Saturday 5th February
1.30pm Kick Off
On Saturday we continue our quest for the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup with a second round journey across the city to the Dub for the second time in three years.
Our last visit was at the same stage in February 2020 and turned out much closer than had been expected as a Queen’s equalised twice before Robbie McDaid completed his hat trick to clinch a 3-2 win for the eventual cup winners.
After 26 games of the Championship season, Queens find themselves at the foot of the table on eighteen points, five adrift of 11th placed Institute. Having lost 5-0 away to Ballinamallard on New Year’s Day, January did prove a productive month for Peter Thompson’s side; three successive victories being chalked up at home to Knockbreda and Ards and away to Harland & Wolff Welders in addition to the Irish Cup win over Newington YC.
Goalkeeper Declan Brown has returned to the club after a six-month spell at Glenavon (in which he featured in our 2-1 league win at Mourneview Park in October) and former Glens reserve defender Adam Calvert is a regular in the side. Midfielder and Captain Ronan Young is a mainstay of the team and netted the opener in Saturday’s win over Ards at the Dub.
Mick McDermott: “Last time we were at Queens if I recall rightly we had three or four good chances early on but didn’t put them away. I think we hit the bar a couple of times at 0-0. That showed how important it is to kill games off as we then found ourselves at 2-2 for a spell before a great cross from Elvio Van Overbeek set Robbie up for a great finish. We need to go out on Saturday, Control the game and then take the chances when they come. We’ve got a full panel now as Bigi and Marcus are available and only Joe Crowe might be a week or so away from coming back in
The Irish Cup is always a massive priority for us, as a prestigious trophy to be won, and a route into Europe.”
