Ballinamallard manager Gavin Dykes is aiming to put any lingering league doubts to bed on Friday night when he takes his Mallards side to Shamrock Park. The Mallards took a massive step closer to safety on Saturday when they thumped Glentoran 3-0 to record their biggest league win of the season. And with Carrick Rangers losing 2-1 to Portadown it means that the Mallards are now ever closer to guaranteeing Premiership football next season. Indeed, a win on Friday night would seal the deal for the Mallards and Dykes is just keen to go on and get it over the line.

“There is no doubt that last Saturday was a massive result for us especially the way other results went,” said Dykes. “I think we have put ourselves in a great position to now go on Friday night and finish it off. We want to go and win the game, get the three points and then we can look forward to a local derby against Dungannon on Tuesday night which is always fiesty. I want to get it done and dusted and hopefully we can then have a strong finish to the season.”

However, Dykes is expecting a tough test on Saturday against a Portadown side that know that anything other than a win will result in relegation to the Championship.

“They beat us up there in the second game of the season and all the games up there have been tight between us. I would say they have one eye on next year but they are fighting to try and stay in the Premiership and we are going to have nothing easy up there. All we can do though is look after ourselves. We will be looking to start with the same intent and desire and if we can put away the chances then we will have a great chance. The difference between the Linfield game and the Glentoran game was that we took our chances against Glentoran,” he stated.

And the Mallards boss is already planning towards next season with a number of players have agreed to stay at the club and Dykes was delighted to have tied down the impressive Shane McGinty for another season. McGinty has been a growing influence in the side as the season has progressed and produced an excellent performance against the Glens, scoring the killer third goal for the Mallards.

“I’m thrilled to get Shane signed up for next year and we have quite a few now signed up for next season. In fairness to Shane he had more lucrative offers financially elsewhere but I think he knows that he has developed really well here this season. He has got better and better as the season has gone on and he is a huge player for us so I’m delighted to get him over the line, it’s good business and hopefully we can add a few more to it. The nature of football is that you are always going to lose one or two but if I can keep the majority of what I have and add one or two then I’ll be happy.”

Dykes is now beginning to put together the type of squad that he felt was needed when he took over the managers role from Whitey Anderson.

““I was asked at the start what I felt the team needed and I said it needed youth and it needed legs and it needed energy. We now have tons of legs; Mayse is quick, Owens is quick, Curran is getting better every game and McGinty has just found his place that he is happy and he wants to play football in. The average age of that team we had out against Glentoran was very young and we play really good attractive football so I’m delighted with it,” he commented.