Ballinamallard manager Gavin Dykes admits that his side need to become ‘more horrible to play against’ following last Friday night’s defeat to Carrick.
The Mallards had dominated proceedings in the first half and took a deserved lead through Ryan Mayse but they let Carrick straight back into the game before half time and the visitors then struck twice to wrap up the points in the second half.
Dykes has stated throughout the season that the way they play, they will create chances but also give teams chances. However, while they have created chances in recent weeks they have not taken enough of them while they have given away a number of soft goals. The manager is keen to shore things up at the back and he is aware that this will come at the expense of carving out as many chances as they have been doing.
“We talked about this after the game on Friday night. My philosophy is that we try and play, we try and get it wide and put balls in the box and we try and score goals and I don’t want to change much from that. But we have got to defend properly and we are not defending properly. We are giving away far too many goals and we are giving away too many chances. We have to tighten things up and become a bit more horrible to play against.
“We’ve had a sit down and we’ve said we’ve got to tighten things up at the back, that becomes a priority now and hopefully we might get a couple of chances and put one away. It’s about trying to get the balance right,” he said.
 The Mallards looked to be in complete control on Friday night when Mayse put them ahead just before the break and Dykes was disappointed not to have consolidated their lead to half time.
“I’m disappointed because the first goal in the game is crucial and we got the first goal, we dominated the game and should have been more up but we gave them a goal and they go into half time a different team. When you do put it in the net then you’ve got to be able to defend it properly for the next five or six minutes and we didn’t,” he said.
Next up for the Mallards is a trip to Solitude to face Cliftonville and Dykes is hoping to see an improved defensive performance.
“It is a difficult place to go and they are a very good footballing side who like to play it the right way although that might suit us. If we can defend properly, I’m sure we will get chances but the first priority is that we look after ourselves and make sure we are organised.”
The Mallards have been hit with defensive injuries but Dykes is hoping to have a couple of defenders back for Saturday.
“I’m hoping that Ryan McConnell and Davy Elliott will be back because they are two natural defenders and if they are available they will come back in but I won’t know to later in the week if they will make it,” he added.