Kevin Deery: 'We have to match their aggression and their determination' as Institute aim to earn promotion to the top flight at the expense of Ballymena United

The Championship side hold a 1-0 lead heading to the Ballymena Showgrounds courtesy of Daniel Lafferty's wonder strike on Tuesday night.

'Stute know avoiding defeat will mean promotion to the top flight for the first time since the 2019-20 campaign.

However, despite winning the first leg on home soil, Deery warns they will need to put in a better performance with the ball if they are to progress on Warden Street.

"I know it was a strange one but the commitment the boys gave was great, they were throwing their bodies on the line, but we have to be better than what we showed at times on Tuesday night," he said.

"We rushed in at times and never really settled until we got into our rhythm.

"They are going to have a big home support and we have to go up and try and do better than we did on Tuesday night.

"It's not been in us all year to try and sit back and defend, so that won't be the case. We have to try and get after them and score goals.

"Their style is really difficult to play against. It's very direct, it's duels, setting balls, staying with runners and getting blocks in.

"We'll have to do all that again, but we need to be better in our own performance in terms of keeping the ball."

Games like these are often settled by fine margins and Deery has called on his team to produce another "big moment" like Lafferty's stunning strike in the first-leg.

He added: "They're fighting for their lives as well. They're not going to lie down. There's always two teams in the equation and we have to match their aggression, their determination.

"We have to show more quality in our own play. When I say that, you're looking at Danny's goal, things like that. That's big moments and we need to find another big moment. We need to have all the aggression and desire that we've shown all year again for winning that push.

"We've scored 25 goals in the 80th minute, 10 plus in the 90th. We're going to the end in games.

"As I say, we have challenges here but we don't have the luxury of going for big players but we have a spirit in our group that we're willing to go right into the deep end for each other."

Deery suffered play-off heartache in consecutive seasons with the Drumahoe side during his previous tenure at the club – but that’s firmly in the past.

"It's a long, long time ago. We didn't defend properly in Carrick. We didn't defend, that's years back. I don't even reflect on that game. I've come in and done a job and got them going really well.

"It's amazing to be in this situation and that's the thing, we're one game away from possibly setting out what we wanted to achieve.

"I want the boys to just go up and enjoy the occasion, put on a real performance and battle and leave everything out there. If you do that, let's hope it's enough to get us over there."