Ballinamallard United will have their first taste of home on Saturday when they welcome Eddie Patterson’s Glentoran to Ferney Park.

Work at the ground led to the Mallards having to play their opening three games away from home and manager Whitey Anderson states that his players are looking forward to getting out on their home pitch on Saturday, a game which begins a run of four home league games out of the next five.

And having registered two draws and loss from their opening three games, Anderson is keen for his side to get their first win on the board.

“I think the big thing for us now is that we have four league games at home out of five which is massive and it is something we’re looking forward to. They players are absolutely buzzing about it and they can’t wait to get out on to Ferney Park. We know that these are going to be tough games but we have to get points out of them, it is as simple as that.

“If we can get the three points it will help the players. This league is going to be ultra competitive this year and you wouldn’t want to be putting your money on results going one way or the other,” said the Ballinamallard manager.

Glentoran have been a bogey team of Ballinamallard’s during their opening two campaigns in the Danske Bank Premiership with the Mallards still waiting on their first victory over the East Belfast outfit. And Anderson is expecting another tough test against them on Saturday.

“They have some young lads in their side but looking at the team that started last week they also have plenty of experience so it is going to be a difficult game,” said Whitey. “They are a very good footballing side who will get it down and try and play the right way. We also haven’t beaten them in the Premiership yet but we are at home so our aim is to put in a good performance and see if we can get a good result.” Glentoran will have been buoyed by the fact that they recorded their first win last Saturday with a 3-1 victory over Warrenpoint Town and they will be looking to build on that on Saturday at Ferney Park. Anderson though is hoping that there will be a good crowd at Ferney Park for the first home game of the season to get behind the team.

“It is our first game at home and hopefully the supporters will get behind us and drive us on. I would expect a good crowd will come out to watch a relatively new team with new players. I’m really looking forward to it.” And he believes that there is more to come from his side than they have shown to date.

“We have to be more consistent and our concentration levels have got to be better. In every game we have played well in certain stages but we haven’t played well for the whole game. I think we’ve strengthened the squad well and although we haven’t hit the ground running like we would have wanted to due to players being missing, I’m convinced that when we get everybody right we have a good squad of players who will do well,” he stated.

Anderson also feels that new striker Anthony Elding will have benefited from getting three games under his belt and believes he is ready to make his mark on the league.

“I think Anthony is getting frustrated with himself. He hasn’t had a lot of game time and while he is fit in terms of general fitness and he looks after himself extremely well you need game time. Hopefully those three games he has had will help him and I know that he is buzzing to get out on Ferney Park on Saturday and I think you’ll see a different Anthony Elding on Saturday.” The Mallards are then back in action on Monday night when they travel to Ballymoney for a Wasp Solutions League Cup clash against Ballymoney United but Anderson says they will get Saturday’s game out of the road before they focus on that although he admits he would relish a cup run.

“We are away on Monday night to Ballymoney and it was probably the worst draw of all in terms of travelling distance although we are used to that over the years and we don’t seem to have much luck in getting home draws in the cups. We’ll look after Saturday first though and we’ll then focus on Ballymoney and hopefully get a result and get into the next round. We would certainly like to get a run in the cup competitions.”