Gavin Dykes has never hidden his objective for the season, finish out of the bottom two and look to build towards next season.
Indeed, if the league finished today, he would be a happy man with the Mallards sitting third from bottom. It doesn’t finish today though and Dykes knows there is still a lot of work to be done if his target is to be met.
Key then is staying above Portadown and Carrick Rangers in the table so it goes without saying that tomorrow (Friday) night’s game against Carrick is a crunch game for his side.
“If we can put nine points between us and them and it would be a good night for us but if we don’t get a result and they cut the gap to three points then we are right back in trouble. We have to try and win the game.
“We played Carrick up there and we could have lost and then had a penalty with the last kick to win it. I’m informed that we have never beaten Carrick in the league so it is going to be a tough game and I know their new manager Aaron Callaghan fairly well, he’ll have them well organised. We are at home though and hopefully we can push on, get the first goal and get the win,” said Dykes.
The Ballinamallard squad is threadbare at present and the bench was loaded with young players last Saturday for the trip to the Showgrounds. Dykes has always said that he has no fear of throwing in youngsters but he states that he hopes to add three or four players to the squad during January.
“We are down to the bare bones and we have lost players; we lost young Flatley and we lost John Currie. We also have a couple of players like Ryan McConnell and Gary Armstrong who are on loan and we have to think of the worst case scenario that they will be going back so we have to strengthen. However, I won’t just be strengthening for the sake of bringing in players, we have targets that we want to try and bring to the club for this season and next season and it is about getting the right people and the right players and the right profile of person that we want. As I say we have targets and I have spoken to some of them and hopefully we will be able to bring in three if not four, that’s what I’m hoping. I think the squad needs that and the club has said that the money is there to do it. We don’t have the biggest budget in the world but these players won’t be coming in as a quick fix, we’ll need them for next season as well,” he added.
Ballinamallard suffered a third successive league defeat last Saturday when they lost to Ballymena but Dykes feels that the 4-0 scoreline was harsh on his side.
“The scoreline doesn’t reflect the game but that’s the result. I thought we were by far the better side in the first half and we created a lot of good chances but we didn’t take them and they got a chance and scored and we found ourselves 1-0 down at half time. The second goal killed us and after that we’re chasing the game and they then scored a third five minutes later. After that, and I make no apologies for it, I started thinking about this weekend’s game against Carrick and I took off McCabe and Lecky with that in mind. 
“I’m very disappointed for the players because the last two games we have played I don’t think we have deserved to lose either of them but you have to put the ball in the net.”