Lough 41 Championship.
Dergview vs Ards.
Darragh Park, Castlederg.
Saturday 4th September @ 3.00 p.m
Ards make the long trek to Castlederg hoping to get back to winning ways after the disappointment of losing their 100% record at Newry last time out.
With several players carrying knocks, manager John Bailie will have to wait until after Thursday's training session to see if any of his walking wounded are sufficiently recovered to be considered for selection on Saturday. Definitely not available is James Ferrin who will be out for a couple of weeks at least after sustaining a nasty gash to his leg late on in the Newry match. On the positive side, Patrick Cafolla will have completed his suspension and we have a back-up goalkeeper following the signing of Ethan Carry from Dundela. Also hoping to be included will be promising young striker Calvin McCurry who was signed on loan from Cliftonville on deadline day. Other deadline day moves involving the Red and Blues included the release of Leo Brown who has returned to England due to work commitments and Benji Magee who has joined PSNI.
Dergview sit in mid table with two wins, two defeats and a draw from their five games. They opened the season with an impressive 5-0 win over Institute and followed that up with a draw at Ballinamallard, their other win was 2-1 at Dundela last Saturday. Defeats came at home to Newry and away to Loughgall, no disgrace there.
New manager Tommy Canning, who has had links with Dergview over the years as assistant manager on a couple of occasions, took over from Ivan Sproule in May this year, wasted no time in bringing with him some players he knew from his previous post as Finn Harps Under 19 manager. Niall McGinley and Jamie Browne are two highly rated youngsters while the experienced and much travelled striker Benny Igiehon has already been among the goals and will need to be closely marked by whoever is able to line up in defence for the visitors. Tommy states his objective for the season is to stay away from the relegation places and judging by the start they have made, Dergview should do that easily.
The PASC are running a bus to this fixture, leaving the Gibson's Lane/Social club area at 12.30 p.m. As advertised previously, the fare is capped at just £10, a great value way to support the team and enjoy stress free travel!
Stuart Dellow.