WE MUST HIT BACK - QUINN

He is looking to get at least four points from their next games against Distillery and Coleraine.

The Blues first host Distillery at Mourneview Park on Saturday (kick-off 3pm) before travelling to face Coleraine at the Coleraine Showgrounds on Tuesday night (kick-off 7.45pm).

Distillery have finally lifted themselves off the bottom of the Carling Premiership table and are on a strong run of form having picked up 17 points from their last eight games - far from relegation form.

However Quinn demands that his men pick up maximum points come Saturday afternoon to help ensure an eighth place finish come the end of the season.

“The performance against Institute was absolutely not good enough and the players were made well aware of it,” he said.

“We hope to bounce back again. We wanted to try and win all of our games after the split and after the Institute game that’s not going to happen but we’ll do our best

“Distillery are going very, very well at the minute but we want to get another few points on the board to guarantee eighth place. We don’t want Ballymena creeping up on us. We’ll try and win every game but to do that we’ll all have to perform as a team. It’s no use one or two performing like we had against Institute last week.”

The Blues then board the bus to Coleraine Showgrounds where they will endeavour to improve on their last trip to face the Bannsiders when they lost 3-0 live on Sky Sports; the first of two defeats live on TV this season.

“No it was not a good display on the night,” Quinn told the ‘MAIL.’

“It was our typical Sky performance but I think the boys know performances like that or the one last week against Institute are not acceptable. We had a good chat after the Institute game and we said it was not acceptable to go out and just go through the motions like that. We had a word with some of the players individually and tried to restore their confidence. Some of them were hurt quite badly after the game and we just reminded them that they were better than that.

“I’d take four points from the two games this week but at the same time I’d love to go up to Coleraine and beat them up there.”

Midfielder Barry Johnston’s injury is not as bad as first feared whilst skipper Conor Walsh will also be back to aid the team’s cause. However, defender Hugh Dickson and striker Tony Grant are unlikely to make it back in time for either of the week’s games.

“Conor (Walsh) came through a training session on Thursday night without any ill effects but Hugh Dickson and Tony Grant are still receiving treatments so they won’t feature in either of the two games,” said Quinn.

“There is an opportunity for Conor to come in and Barry Johnston went to hospital with the injury he suffered against Institute and saw that there was nothing broken, just severe bruising. That was good news for us and I think there’ll be a chance of him playing this week; on Tuesday if not on Saturday.”