Ballinamallard manager Gavin Dykes says he is delighted with the return to the club of Stuart Hutchinson and he had no problem in throwing him in from the start last Saturday in the 1-0 win at the Oval against Glentoran.

Hutchinson is a player that has been on Dykes’ radar since he took the job and he finally got the deal over the line last week to complete a busy January of recruitment.

“I had been chasing him since the start of the season and I’m just delighted to get it done,” stated Dykes. “I know what I’m getting with Stuart, I have seen him play a few times and I spoke to a lot of people about him so I’m thrilled that we got it done. We had to beat a lot of opposition for him but he is a local lad and I thought he was outstanding on Saturday. He is going to be a huge addition going forward and he fits into the profile of the type of player we want here.”

The Mallards are enjoying a good spell at present with Dykes admitting that January was a success on the pitch as well as off.

“It has been very good on the pitch, we are on a good run which has been very productive for us and we have done some great business off the pitch as well. We have brought in Brush, Curran, Hutchinson, Mullen and we have also tied down Ryan Mayse, Niall Owens and Ryan McConnell. In fairness to the board and to the chairman they have been very supportive and the majority of these signing are not just for this year but for next year as well which is very important. We are now sitting down with some of the other players at the moment and trying to get them over the line,” he added.

Following last week’s loss to Coleraine at Ferney Park, Dykes felt it was important to get something from the Glentoran game and the aim now is to keep putting points on the board.

“We are on a good run and it was important after the Coleraine game last week that we got something out of the game. I thought on Saturday we deserved something out of it and I would have been disappointed if we had gone on to draw the game after we had taken the lead.

“We are not out of the relegation mire yet in my opinion so we just have to now concentrate on getting more points and we have to try and finish as high as we can,” he said.

Mayse proved to be the match winner on Saturday and his manager was delighted to see him back among the goals. The attacker was the subject of transfer speculation before signing a new deal to stay at the club and Dykes believes that there is more to come from him.

“I think his form dipped a bit but in all fairness with the speculation around him it does have an affect. We had a chat though and I told him to get back to working hard and he got his reward on Saturday and he could have had one or two more. There are things in his game that he has to work on, he knows that, but I think he has been a shining star for us this year,” he commented.

Dykes also says that he should have striker Ryan Curran fully fit ahead of their next league game on Saturday week.

“He picked up a knock so we have put him on the bench and have been very sparing with him. It was great we didn’t have to use him against Glentoran but all being well he will hopefully be fully fit for Cliftonville which is what we want,” added the Mallards boss.