A first win, a first clean-sheet and most importantly a place in the next round of the cup so Ballinamallard manager Gavin Dykes was a happy man following Tuesday night’s 3-0 win over Dundela in the NI League Cup.
The Mallards bossed things from the off and played some neat football as they took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half through Ryan Mayse.
Dundela did come more into the tie though over the remainder of the half but Jason McCartney doubled the home side’s lead after 60 minutes before Johnny Lafferty wrapped things up with a goal 11 minutes from time.
“I thought we started really well and the first 15 minutes we were really good and probably should have been a few up. It is important that you get the first goal and in fairness to them they worked very hard but I thought some of the young lads did really well and we moved the ball at pace. We got a result so we’re happy with it but we have to build on that for Saturday,” said Dykes.
Dykes brought Steve Feeney into the centre of defence and he was a composed figure as the Mallards kept a clean-sheet for the first time this season.
“I thought Steve Feeney did very well at the back, he is very experienced and held the kids together but everybody did well tonight. The most important thing though is that we are into the next round,” he added.
There was also a return to action for Johnny Lafferty with the striker coming off the bench to provide an assist for McCartney as well as bag a goal himself.
“Johnny is still a wee bit sore but he is a big player for us and that’s why we tried very hard to keep him and we are delighted that he stayed and hopefully he will have no reaction and will be available on Saturday.”
To get that opening win of the season will be a boost for Dykes and his Mallards side but he insists that confidence has not been an issue. He is though hoping that they can go on and get that first league win of the season when they host Coleraine on Saturday at Ferney Park.
“Confidence hasn’t really been a problem for us,” said Dykes, when asked if Tuesday night’s win would lift confidence. “We did well against Linfield and we should have got something out of it, the first half against Portadown we were poor but the second half we did alright although we gave away a poor goal. We let ourselves down against Ballymena, that’s the only time we haven’t really created anything in a game. We showed great character in Carrick and we should have won it with the penalty kick and we showed great character again last week but again missed a penalty kick. We have been creating chances and I said when I came here that we would score goals and try and create chances, that’s the way I want us to play. We have a young team and they will make mistakes, I know that, but it is just about people being patient because we are building every week and hopefully we will get the final element on Saturday and get a result.”
Dykes had been trying hard early this week to add to his squad before the window closed but he has had to admit defeat although he stresses that he is happy with what he has at the minute.
“I tried all day today and there was a couple of players I tried to get in on loan. We had a chance of one good one who we thought we might get back here but it didn’t happen so we’ll have no business to do. It’s very hard, we looked at a few players outside of what we thought that were with Belfast clubs but they just don’t want to travel, it’s as simple as that. 
“We thought we had one, he committed to it but then he changed his mind. We are happy with what we have, we have to give the young players a chance and hopefully we will be in the position in January to go and strengthen if we need to,” he commented.
And while it may not have been the perfect start to the season in terms of results, Dykes states that he is pleased with how things are going so far.
“We knew it was going to be very tough and it was a very difficult time to take over because we had the hassle of the play-off. People forget we were ten seconds from being relegated and we had to be very careful in pre-season. The we played three matches in a week and that’s very hard on players when we didn’t really push them hard in pre-season. 
“I’m happy with the way it’s going, it was important that we got a result tonight, the players needed that, and hopefully it will be more positive on Saturday,” he said.