Jason McCartney is a Ballinamallard veteran and has been through all of the clubs highs and lows since their promotion to the Premier League, and the thirty year old reckons there are bright times ahead for the Mallards despite their recent disappointing run of results.
The first day of October was the last time Ballinamallard registered a league victory, but despite seven straight defeats in all competitions, Jason believes the morale is still high throughout the squad.
“We feel positive amongst ourselves,” he said.
“People think we must be down because of all the games we have lost in a row, but the other side of it is that we do see quality there. We know there is something there to build on and in fairness to Gavin we are all buying into it and we can see what he wants to do.
“He can’t change everything overnight but he has a plan and everyone wants to be part of it. When you have a group of lads that are buying into what the manager wants and they believe in what he is saying, it is very good. He says he has a three year plan at the club and we know he is not going to change it overnight, but everyone is buying into it and we feel that there are positives.”
Two of those positives have been the introduction of teenagers Niall Owens and Callum Frempong. Eighteen year old Frempong has started the last two matches and Niall Owens has also featured regularly this season, and Jason believes the pair have injected an infectious energy into the rest of the squad.
“Sometimes you think about stuff too much but then you see these young lads coming in and enjoying their football and expressing themselves and they are a breath of fresh air,” he said.
“They have come in with loads of energy. I think it has helped lift the likes of myself and the older lads when you see them coming in with no fear and just wanting to play football.
“Gavin is managing them well and he doesn’t want to throw them in too much but Callum has come in the last two games and done superbly, and we all know Niall is a wee flying machine and he has a big future ahead of him.”
For all the positives however the fact remains that Ballinamallard are on a worrying losing streak. Often during the current losing run the Mallards have come close to securing points but have not been able to carry it through for the full ninety minutes, and Jason admits they can no longer simply put it down to a run of misfortune.
“A lot of people have been saying we are unlucky but I don’t believe in that,” he said.
“You can’t always say we are unlucky because you can’t be unlucky over a whole season. Football is played over ninety minutes and there are no hard luck stories in football. We have been talking about it as a group and to be honest it must be concentration.
“Games go on for ninety minutes and your concentration levels have to be up for every minute of the game. That is the only thing we can think of. We were very, very disappointed on Saturday. It seems to be repetitive. Every week we are sitting well and everything is going to plan and then we make individual mistakes and we are getting punished. It is very frustrating.”
Ballinamallard have conceded 23 goals in their last seven games, and Jason recognises that they have to focus on making themselves hard to score against if they are to turn their fortunes around.
“We need to stop leaking goals at the minute and start picking up points. Any points we can pick up will be massive and hopefully then we can start maybe expressing ourselves again. At the minute it might not look pretty but we are going to try to sit in a take a wee bit of pressure, because you will always get chances in this league no matter who you are playing. That is what we have to do and pick up points any way we can.”
Glenavon are the visitors to Ferney Park on Saturday and Jason is approaching the game with a genuine belief that teamwork can be the key to securing a long awaited victory.
“I honestly don’t fear any team on our day,” he said. “We will be going out thinking we can beat Glenavon, in the same way that we went out thinking we could beat Coleraine and Cliftonville. It is still is very positive around the squad which is brilliant. The boys aren’t dropping their heads. We have a different game plan every week depending who we are playing and we think we can beat Glenavon on Saturday. It’s going to be hard and everybody has to work together. No individual is going to win the game. It will be a team effort and as long as we stick together I think we can beat them.”