Chrissy Patterson is quietly confident better times lie ahead for Derriaghy as new manager Owen Forsythe’s overhaul begins to take shape.
The Seymour Hill outfit crashed out of the Intermediate Cup at home to Moyola on Saturday – a defeat which was much of their own making, according to Patterson.
But as ever, it is the league which is focusing minds among the players and staff at Seycon Park.
This season represents their sixth as a top flight Amateur League club but not since their maiden campaign back in 2014/15 have DCC felt overly comfortable in their surroundings.
That year Michael Lamont’s men finished on 31 points and in sixth place – a creditable showing in their first year in the Premier Division.
But since then, it’s fair to say the club have always been glancing over their shoulders, with successive points hauls of 25, 24, 26 and 25 never enough to lift them clear of the bottom four.
Managerial upheaval usually comes with the territory and Derriaghy’s struggles have been accompanied by a high turnover of managers.
But Patterson, who has been at the club for the past four seasons, hopes the appointment of Forsythe and the lowering of the age profile of the squad can bring the kind of stability every club craves.
And the early signs are positive. On current form, with just a solitary defeat from six, Derriaghy are on course to record their best points tally yet.
“I think this season we are going to be looking up more than looking down,” said Patterson, who returned from a seven-week injury lay-off in Saturday’s loss.
“The last three seasons, we’ve been almost waiting on other results to go our way to see where we are sitting.
“But we have started well this year and hopefully it will continue.”
It’s still early days, of course, and things can change quickly, but Patterson admits it’s been hugely encouraging how quickly all the new players have settled and gelled following what was a major refit of the squad over the summer.
Forsythe has put his faith in youth, backed up by a handful of experienced Derriaghy players who stayed loyal to the new regime, the likes of club captain Patterson, Aaron Sharkey, Jordan Baker and Owen Thompson.
“There’s probably three or four players left from last season, so how we started the season was very, very pleasing,” said Patterson.
“We defended very well the first four or five league matches and we were winning matches by just nicking the winner so our performances have been very good.
"We probably have more numbers this season when everyone is fit than we have had the last few years.
“And the average age of the squad is probably a lot younger than what we have had, but we still have a few experienced boys about which has helped the younger ones who haven’t played at this level.”
On targets for the season, Patterson says it is just to be competitive in the division and possibly get their hands on a cup.
“If we were to get into the top five in the league and maybe get to a final or win a cup, that would be success,” said the 31-year-old centre back.
“The last one we won was the Clarence so we’d like to get to the latter stages of a cup, and if we could get top five in the league it would be a successful season.”
Next up for DCC is this Saturday’s trip to Immaculata after a three-week run of cup ties.
Keep up-to-date with all the very latest news, what's on, sport and everything else in Belfast and beyond with the Belfast Live app.
Only select news that interests you by picking the topics you want to display on the app's homepage. Plus, our enhanced user experience includes live blogs, video, interactive maps and slick picture galleries. Download it now and get involved.
Click here to get it from the App Store or here for Google Play .
.jpg?w=600)
