Keep your eye on the ball says Whites boss

In-form Lisburn Distillery return to New Grosvenor this weekend off the back of another victory. This time Dergview are the visitors and Whites boss Tommy Kincaid knows his side must keep their head in the game if theyre to maintain the good run. US1436-508cd

The Whites are on a pleasing run of three wins and a draw from their last four league games. That leaves them sitting in eighth position, five points off Larne in second.

On top of that, Saturday’s opponents Dergview could well be without star summer signing Richard Lecky, who missed their stunning 3-3 draw with Donegal Celtic last weekend with a hamstring injury. They will, however, have available former Ballinamallard duo Darren Higginbotham and John Edgar, whose goals sparked the Derg’s dramatic coneback from three down after 85 minutes.

They’ll be on a high when they arrive at New Grosvenor and Kincaid is taking nothing for granted.

“Dergview are a better side than they were last season,” he said. “They’ll be tough to beat but we’re going into this game with confidence. Three points would be very big for us.”

Joe McDonnell is again available after serving his suspension but may have his work cut out to get back into the line-up.

“When players are doing well and showing they’re working hard, it certainly gives me something to think about,” said Kincaid.

“It’s a nice problem to have becuase I know I have players on the bench who, if somebody is off their game, can come on and improve us.

“We’ve got a lot of competition for places and everybody knows that so everyone is giving it their all to stay in the team.

“Last week, we had Joe and Robbie White suspended so that showed the depth we have because we could still name a strong bench.

“Last season, we were relying on some of our U19s players to step up to first team level and keep Distillery in the league, which is unfair on them.

“With no disrespect to them, this year we have quality senior players on the bench and that means we can send a few of the younger players out on loan, which is a better set-up for everyone.”

Whoever gets the nod on Saturday, Kincaid knows they must be focused on their task, despite the temptation to get excited about their recent rise up the league table.

“You can’t help but look and see how many points off you are,” he said.

“I know it’s a boring cliche but we just have to take it one game at a time because if we take our eye off the ball at all, we’ll be brought right back down.”