Whitey Anderson blamed ‘five minutes of madness’ for his side’s defeat to Glenavon. The Mallards were trailing by a goal at half time after a first half packed with goal mouth action, but within five minutes of the restart the game was all but over as the Lurgan side netted twice to open up an unassailable 4-1 lead.

“It was just five minutes of madness at the start of the second half and the game was over at that stage,” admitted Whitey. “I think at 2-1 at half time I was happy and we usually come strong in the second half. I thought we were good going forward in the first half, and Johnny Lafferty in particular was outstanding but goals change the momentum of games and change the mind-set of players. They score two at the start of the second half and that’s it. They can then relax and start knocking the ball about and our boys are under a bit of pressure and that is the way it works. We shot ourselves in the foot!”

In the lead up to the game Whitey was awarded the Manager of the Month award for the second time in his career. Wins in October against Glentoran, Portadown, Warrenpoint, a cup tie victory over Linfield at Windsor Park and a draw with champions Crusaders earned him the accolade three years after claiming the trophy in the Mallard’s debut season in the top flight. On that occasion the manager celebrated by winning at Windsor Park, but there were no such celebrations this time around as their good run came to an end against a goal hungry Glenavon side. “It’s a hard place to come to and in the months of October and November they are as good a side as we have played to be honest,” said Whitey. “They will do well this season.”

Ballinamallard will have a chance to return to winning ways on Saturday when they host Ballymena. After a good start to the season Ballymena have only taken one win from their last six league games and have slipped below Ballinamallard on goal difference in the table. During the team’s previous meeting this season the Mallards came within seconds of securing their first ever win at the Showgrounds, only for Michael McCrudden’s first half goal to be ruled out with by a Ballymena equaliser deep into stoppage time. On their home ground however, Ballinamallard will be hoping for all three points.

“We have to bounce back,” said Whitey. “That is one thing about this team and this club. We have a good record of bouncing back. We bounced back after a bad September. After being good away from home all season we have had a bad result against Glenavon but I'm sure the players will look to respond this week. You know by them in the changing room after the game that they can’t wait until the next game comes around. I am confident in the group of players that we have. There is a great buzz in training and we have a good squad and they work extremely hard for each other. We didn’t get those results in October by chance and we are capable of getting those results again.”