LOUGHGALL manager, Niall Currie, has hit back at criticism of his players by Coagh United's Stephen Uprichard ahead of this weekend's IFA Championship 1 clash between the derby rivals.
Currie has stepped up in defence of his squad following recent comments in the media by the Coagh joint manager leading up to tomorrow's (Saturday's) fixture.
"Stephen recently talked about how Loughgall are big, strong and physical, plus a threat
from set-pieces, whereas Coagh play a different kind of football," said Currie. "To be honest, I find that disrespectful towards myself as manager and the club overall but especially my players.
"A glance at the statistics will show we have been listed among the division's leading scorers over each of the past few seasons.
"I look around my squad and see players full of creativity such as Ryan Moffatt, Ryan Evans, Brian Adair and Davy Hawthorne.
"Plus, Aiden McVeigh and Paul McDowell have scored around 30 goals as a partnership this season but must go down as two of the shortest forwards in the league.
"We use every option open to us as a goal threat and, when it comes to set-pieces, it is only natural that a player with Alan Murphy's aerial strength would be a target.
"In fact, Stephen used Alan in the same way as his manager at Armagh City.
"Overall, I can only think of three or four goals this season which have come from set-pieces and it is actually an area in which we want to improve.
"We scored five goals against Coagh back in August and cannot recall too many set-pieces playing a part in that win.
"I am a traditional manager in that I stick to a 4-4-2 formation with out-and-out wingers and two up top.
"It is not the first time Stephen has come out with comments about how we play and it just sends out a message about our club which I consider extremely disrespectful.
"Banbridge Town manager, Colin Malone, actually shook my hand and was full of praise for our performance during the recent 4-1 victory so it is disappointing to hear Stephen adopt that approach.
"However, I will take my so-called big, strong physical team to Coagh on Saturday and just post Stephen's views up on the wall for the perfect pre-match motivation."
Kick-off tomorrow (Saturday) will be 3 o'clock.
