Ballinamallard put an end to a run of nine games without a win as they picked up their first victory by taking all three points from their encounter with Glentoran last Saturday.
And manager Gavin Dykes is hoping that they can build on the Glens result now and start to put a run together with some massive games coming up in the next few weeks including two derbies against Dungannon as well as meetings with the two sides below them in the table, Carrick Ranger and Portadown.
“We had spoken before the Glentoran game that this was one that we had to win. We knew that Portadown were going to get a bounce with Niall Currie going in there and Carrick have taken a bounce with Aaron and we knew that we had to get back to winning ways. I was delighted that we won but now we have to build on this and kick on. We have games coming up against Dungannon twice, Portadown and Carrick and there are games in there we feel we can win. If we can do that, the second half of the season will be a lot better,” said the Mallards boss.
Although the performance was probably not as good as the ones that saw the Mallards earn a draw against Ards and lose to Crusaders, Dykes admits that at this stage the only thing that counts is results.
“It’s very easy saying after a game that we played well but we didn’t get anything out of it however nobody cares at this stage of the season about performances, you have to go and get results and put points on the board. If we can go now and be horrible against Dungannon and not play that well but get something out of it then I’ll be delighted. We now have to push on and hopefully start moving in the right direction,” he added.
Dykes is expecting a testing afternoon on Boxing Day though against a Dungannon side who will be keen to bounce back from last Saturday’s defeat to Portadown.
“It’s a local derby and it’s a big Christmas game and although our last memories of it aren’t good as they put six past us in the League Cup, it will be a different team that will be going out on Monday. It is going to be a very tough match, especially with them coming back from a bad result against Portadown but hopefully we can start the game well and get something out of it,” he commented.
Dykes also confirmed that goalkeeper Richard Brush will be a Mallards player from January while he hopes to complete a move for a striker this week. 
“Brush will be coming in while hopefully we will have a striker in on Thursday. Then hopefully we’ll get one more at the start of the window. We have a lot of irons in the fire and it will probably be a loan player but if we can get those in we’ll be happy,” stated Dykes.