Ballinamallard manager Gavin Dykes felt that Tuesday night’s draw with Glenavon was a fair result.

The Mallards had taken the lead through Josh McIlwaine’s 75th minute header from a peach of a cross from Niall Owens but Glenavon rescued a point through player-manager Gary Hamilton’s deflected effort four minutes from time.

“I thought it was fair enough in the end,” said Dykes. “I felt the first half was poor, the two teams were very poor and it was flat and I told them at half time that it was like a pre-season game. The second half though was a lot livelier and I thought that McGinty was excellent for us and caused them all sorts of problems.”

The introduction of Owens appeared to swing the game the way of the Mallards with the 16 year old giving the visitors defence a torrid time.

“We gambled, we put Jay (McCartney) at left back and put on Niall Owens and his ball into the box for the goal was just immense, he couldn’t have placed it any better and the big fella comes in and sticks his head on to it. Everybody is worrying about Lecky but Josh does what he does and if you put the ball in the box he will score goals,” he added.

However, Dykes has again urged caution with Owens and states that he will continue to protect the talented youngster who twice went close to putting the Mallards two up in the game.

“As I keep saying, we have to be careful with him as he is just 16 and it is very easy to just throw him in. I think that’s the first night he hasn’t got a kick and in fairness if I was up against him I would kick him to because I couldn’t run after him.

“The goalkeeper makes a wonderful save from him and he also gets through and the ball bobbles on him, he is just a big talent and we have lot of talent like that coming through,” added Dykes.

If Owens was a threat going forward for Ballinamallard, goalkeeper Richard Brush again showed his quality at the other end of the pitch. He pulled off a couple of top class saves, including one at the death when it was 1-1 that ensured the Mallards held on for a point.

“That’s why we brought him here, for me, he’s the best goalkeeper in this league,” stated Dykes. “I know what I’m getting with him, he’s very experienced, he’s very calm and he’s a great lad around the place. He made a save towards the end with his foot which was fantastic and it makes a difference.”

The point was the Mallards eleventh from their last six games and while Dykes says they are still very aware of the battle at the bottom, the aim will be to try to claw in those above them and climb the table.

“You are always looking over your shoulder when you are third from bottom but we’ll try and do what we can. We’ll try and catch Glentoran, we’ll try and catch Ards, that’s the objective and we just want to try and win games. We have a bit of form at home, January has been good to us so far but there is a long way to go in this league yet and we are not getting carried away by any means.

“We are happy that we have managed to keep our run going tonight but we have to keep looking forward,” commented the Mallards boss.

Next up is a meeting with Coleraine on Saturday at Ferney Park and Dykes is eager for the Mallards to make amends for what he describes as their worst performance of the season.

“They have turned us over here and turned us over quite easily, it was the worst performance we have put in all year so we owe Coleraine and hopefully we can push on,” he said.

The Mallards have a concern over Ryan McConnell who had to be carried off on Tuesday night with a knee injury although Dykes is hopeful that it is not as bad as first feared.

“We don’t know yet but it might not be as bad as what we first thought and I hope it is not because he has been great for us.”

January signing Ryan Curran is also carrying a knock and Dykes is adamant that they won’t rush him into action.

“Ryan was keen to go on the bench in case we needed a goal but it will do him no harm that he hasn’t played and again we have to mind him. He is quality and I want to try and get him and Josh playing up top together but we’ll have to be patient.”

The Mallards boss also reiterated his desire to further add to his squad this month.

“We’re trying to bring maybe one more in. I’m looking at somebody in midfield who can maybe give us a bit of legs and can get a few goals for us and maybe we will look for a bit of cover up top just in case one of the boys gets injured,” he said.