Ballinamallard manager Whitey Anderson was once again left to rue defensive mistakes and missed chances as they lost 3-0 to Portadown.

The season so far has been a mixture of good spells of play interspersed with defensive mistakes, and Saturday’s match followed a similar pattern. Ballinamallard put together some good football and carved out several good chances but in contrast to league leaders Portadown, the Mallard strike force failed to score and at the back they conceded three soft goals.

“It’s about cutting out the silly mistakes. We have been playing some good football in possession but some of the mistakes we are making are ridiculous,” said the manager. “I think we had much of the play as they did, but it comes down to who puts the ball in the net. Overall we had a lot of the ball but they are a very strong team and when you make mistakes they punish you. In the first half I thought we played very well but they scored a goal just before half time, which was obviously exactly what we didn’t want and exactly what they did want. In the second half there was a 15 minute spell where we had three good chances, and at 2-0 down if we take one of those it puts us back in it and it’s a different game. Johnny Lafferty went down the line and Liam Martin will be disappointed because normally he would have scored, but he opened his body up and it sliced off his foot. Goals change the momentum of games, and they got the third goal. It was a terrible mistake again, and that was game over.” Ballinamallard’s debut season in the top flight was built around a rock solid defence, but that solidity seems to have been eroded and Whitey knows they will have to tighten up at the back if they are to avoid a fight against relegation.

“If I could put my finger on it, I would have resolved it a month ago, but football is like that and hopefully it will change,” said Whitey. “I didn’t say too much to the players after the game because we have been over it all before this last few weeks. We just have to dust ourselves down and hopefully we will sort a few things out in time for Linfield.” Ferney Park’s visitors this Saturday are another team struggling to live up to expectations. The multiple league champions suffered a home defeat to Glenavon on Saturday and have struggled to find the net this season, scoring only eight goals in their eight games. Whitey is confident his players can shake off the recent defeats and rise to the challenge.

“Linfield are still the biggest draw in the Irish league for us,” said Whitey. “If they can’t get themselves up to play Linfield at Ferney Park then they shouldn’t be playing for us. I don’t think there will be any problem with that.”