Ballinamallard’s opening seven games of the season will include home games against Belfast big guns Glentoran, Cliftonville and Crusaders and a trip to Windsor Park to play champions Linfield.

Gavin Dykes Mallards will begin their campaign with a meeting with Glentoran at Ferney Park on Saturday August 12.

A trip to Lurgan follows three days later when the Mallards take on Glenavon at Mourneview Park before they host Cliftonville on Saturday August 19.

“We’re delighted to open up with a home game, and it’s good for the club in terms of gate revenue to have two home games in the first week against big opposition like Glentoran and Cliftonville,” said Mallards boss Dykes.

Three games in the opening week though will be a test for Dykes’ small squad.

“Three games is tough and something that we struggled with last year so it is something we have to look to improve on this year and hopefully we can manage it a bit better,” he added.

This is followed by away games against Carrick Rangers and Dungannon Swifts on successive Saturdays and Crusaders will then be the visitors to Ferney Park on Saturday September 9.

And on Saturday September 16 the Mallards make the journey to the home of the champions when they take on David Healy’s Blues at Windsor Park.

Ballinamallard took time to find their feet at the start of last season as they picked up only one point from their first six league games but Dykes is hopeful that they can make a better start this time around.

“We want to get points on the board as soon as possible and not wait as long as we did last year. We’ll be aiming to get off to a better start.”

And in terms of goals for the forthcoming season, it is all about improvement for Dykes.

“We are realistic about our goals, we want to finish above were we finished last year, that’s the aim for us. I believe that the squad that we have is good enough to do it,” he commented.