Ballinamallard manager Gavin Dykes admits that Niall Owens’ performances have put more pressure on him to give the 16 year old greater game time.

Dykes has stated all along that he has a responsibility to protect the teenager and that he has to be careful with him but he is also only too aware of the impact he has made when he has come on in games.

“Niall is a phenomenal talent but we just have to be very careful with him, I’m very conscience that he has to be minded. It would be very easy to put him out there every week and get battered but that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. Of course though I’m coming under pressure to play him because every time he comes on he has been outstanding. That’s coming from everybody because he gives the whole place a lift when he comes on and it gives the players a lift,” he said.

The Mallards will be hoping to make a return to winning ways this Saturday when they take on Glentoran at the Oval although Dykes stresses that they will have to make a better start than they have to their last two games.

“If we can start the game well which we haven’t done over the last couple of games I think we can go and get something at the Oval. We have to begin the game better than we have done recently though. In terms of Glentoran, we’ve beaten them and we’ve drawn with them already. I think the day we played them up there we should have beaten them and it was a tight game at Ferney Park but we came out the right side of it so it is going to be a tough match,” said the Mallards boss.

Before Saturday’s defeat to Coleraine, the Mallards had picked up 11 points from their previous six games which had given them a bit of a cushion over the bottom two and Dykes knows that it is important to keep moving forward with Ards and possibly Glentoran in their sights.

“From where we where before Christmas to where we are now, we are in a far better position but we have got to keep pushing on,” he commented.

“I have always said that I thought we would be better in the second half of the season and that we would improve and that has happened but we still have to keep pushing on. We would like to get above Ards and if we can manage to beat Glentoran them we are only a few points behind them as well. That’s where we want to go but in saying that there are no easy games in this league and on their day anybody can beat anybody. Carrick could put a run together and that would drag us back into it so we have just got to keep pushing forward as we can’t rely on Carrick and Portadown to keep losing games.

“There is a couple of big weeks coming up before the split and we want to put ourselves in a good position before that happens,” he added.

On Saturday, the Mallards never really got going against Coleraine and Dykes admitted that they looked tired after a busy run of games.

“We looked leggy, we looked tired and it has been a hectic schedule for us lately. I thought we never really got going on Saturday until we went 2-0 down and we suddenly woke up but that’s easy doing that. We got a goal back and then everybody is at it and has an extra bit of energy but we didn’t start the game well and you just can’t afford to do that.”