Accies facing crunch time after heavy home defeat

GETTING anything from a home fixture against Energia All-Ireland League 2C table-topping Midleton was always going to be a big ask for Omagh Accies, given the contrasting form of the two sides, but Saturday’s performance from the Tyrone outfit proved a disappointment.

Glenn Kyle’s men slumped to a 41-7 reverse on the day, with only Matty Eccles try and Scott Elliott’s conversion to show for their efforts as their promotion-chasing opponents cruised to a five point haul at the Thomas Mellon Playing Fields.

And while skipper, Matthew Clyde put the performance and result down to an off-day, of which there have been too many already this season, he acknowledges that improvement is needed.

“It was disappointing,” he observed “We just didn’t get going at all and Midleton played well, credit to them, but we struggled.

“We’d worked on stuff in training and we said beforehand that we wanted to perform well at home but it just didn’t happen for us.

“Looking at the season so far, there’s games there we haven’t performed how we should have and then there’s other games we’ve showed what we can do in glimpses. I think we need to get a wee bit more consistency into our play, improve our discipline and hold onto the ball a bit more.”

The Accies latest result leaves them in an all-too familiar position in recent seasons. They are currently second from bottom, one place above Tullamore, who lost to Bruff, who are now one position above Omagh, who face both sides just before and just after Christmas during a crunch period that will not only define this campaign but possibly the club’s senior status.

And Clyde admits he and his team-mates need to pick themselves up ahead of that vital run of four fixtures.

“We’re in a position now where we have to group together and turn it around for the next game [in the AIL] because our next two are Bruff (away, Dec 7th) and Tullamore (home, Dec 14th) and then after Christmas it’s the reverse fixtures to we have to pick ourselves up.

“But that’s rugby, sometimes things don’t go for you and you have to just pick yourself up for the next one.”

Before they take on Bruff and Tullamore, the Accies entertain Ballyclare in the Ulster Premiership keen to not only respond to heavy back-to-back defeats against Enniscorthy and Midleton, but also to boost their confidence ahead of those crunch AIL fixtures.

“It’s probably an opportunity to set things right,” Clyde acknowledged. “We let ourselves down at home [against Midleton] in a lot of things, so we’ll regroup next week, get a plan in place and I think it’s a good opportunity for us to set things right at home and start building towards Bruff and Tullamore to try to finish the first half of the season on a high.”