IRVINE Meadow square-off against local rivals Victoria this Friday night and Medda co-manager Gareth Turner believes his side are up for the challenge.

Turner, who himself played with fellow co-manager Michael Wardrope in several Marymass derbies for Medda, hopes that the whole town will be out in force to witness what he believes will be an entertaining match in the Ardagh Glass League cup; where his side will come out on top.

After their previous eight goal thriller, fans of both Irvine teams will no doubt be looking forward to the game and Turner understands their excitement.

He told Sporttimes: “The derby is a massive game in the town. Everyone is up for it and the place is anticipating a good match.

“I’ve played in eight of them myself and they are always big games. There’s a decent crowd, big atmosphere and some good, hard tackles. But there’s always good football on show, too.”

Asked how much different his management role now differentiates from his former playing days, Turner said: “It’s completely different being in the dugout. It’s great to be involved at all but comparing the coaching role to playing role is very different.”

Although Turner insists that, while getting one over on their Irvine rivals would be nice, that aspect of the fixture is more for the fans to worry about.

He said: “Bragging-rights are important to the supporters and would be great but the coaching staff and players have to stay focused on the game. We can’t get drawn into that kind of thing.

“We had a great performance last week which shows where we can be and we just want to build momentum going into this week’s games. We have to put on a good show to preserve the good reputation of football in the town.”