Queen’s University’s Chris Middleton has sent a warning to Championship clubs that the South Belfast side are not going to give up and will fight for every point in the division.
Middleton found the net in Saturday’s victory against his former club Ballyclare, as the Students ended a run of 13 league games without a win – in which they picked up just one point – to claim a two-goal triumph.
Middleton told Match on Tuesday: “The club has worked tirelessly and endlessly to get the club to this position and we are not prepared to let it go easily.
“We know we need to compete, to battle and to upset teams with bigger budgets and more experience.
“Our target this season was realistic but this is a challenge for all of us – it gives you that drive and motivation to show what you can do every week.”
Queen’s have been deprived of several star players; goalkeeper and captain Declan Brown joined Glenavon, midfield star Jonah Mitchell is studying in Manchester while leading scorer Matthew Hughes injured his cruciate in the opening day defeat against H&W Welders.
“Things have not gone our way this season – Matthew’s injury was such a huge blow as he is such a fantastic player, so much of what we did went through him,” added Middleton.
“We don’t want to make excuses because at this level you cannot do that, but it was always going to a really challenging season for us and for a lot of the younger players to adapt."
When analysing what has gone wrong this season, Middleton added: “This season has been about not taking our chances and being punished by good teams throughout this division.
“There are plenty of games still to go in this division and we know what we need to do and what level we need to be at.
“We have a lot of young players and when you are at the foot of the table, of course things will be difficult and a huge learning curve.
“We are under no illusions about the scale of the task ahead of us but Saturday’s win at Ballyclare showed what we can do to any team in this league.”
Queen’s host Dundela on Saturday, having defeated the East Belfast side back in August in their only previous win this campaign prior to this weekend.
