Khan urges patience as season reaches business end

Editorial Department • Published 9 Feb 2012 13:00 0 Comments

Ballinamallard assistant manager Brian Khan has urged both players and spectators to have patience as they continue to push for the championship title. Their latest success came against Tobermore on Saturday, but the home side were made to wait for the breakthrough despite dominating the early exchanges.

"Tobermore obviously came with a game plan to defend and at times we showed a lack of patience," admitted Brian. "We missed a few chances, and I think our final pass in the last third is a bit off at the moment. That is maybe down to a lack of patience, not only from the players but also the supporters and even the coaching staff. It creates extra pressure on us, especially in home matches and especially in matches we are dominating so much. There is a sense that we should nearly be out of sight at half time, but you have to have respect for the opposition and how they set up, and I think we all have to show a bit more patience at times. I always say to the boys that their quality will shine through and teams do tire in the second half, and if you keep playing your football the rewards will come."

The sense of urgency to establish a lead has grown ever more pressing with the crowd having one eye on the match and one eye on the league table, and Brian acknowledges that it is becoming increasingly hard to just take one match at a time. "Everybody knows our position and although the manager isn't keen to discuss it, there is no getting away from it," he admitted. "I think it does have an effect on the players to be honest. If we are not ahead at half time or on the hour mark at home you can sense a bit of nervousness to be creeping into the game. A lot of other teams are already seemingly handing us the title but we know there is a long way to go and a lot of hard work to be done. They just have to keep playing their normal good soccer on the ground and not to panic and our quality should tell in the end."

Despite the tension the wins have kept coming for Ballinamallard and their advantage at the top of the league now stands at ten points. Brian is quick to acknowledge that the cushion they have established is down to the ability of what he reckons is a very strong squad of players that have risen to the challenge.

"This is my fourth season and there are a lot of guys that have been with us all that time, and I can see from that first season how much they have developed and matured, and we are seeing that in games where maybe in the past we would have conceded late goals and lost games," he said. "We have a very strong panel. Craig Hill came in on Saturday at left back which is not a familiar position for him, and he was superb. I think we have the three best midfielders in the league in James McKenna, Stuart Hutchinson and Davy Kee. We have Chris Curran who is probably the most exciting prospect in the league and on his day unplayable, and a special mention for Stevie Sheridan who came in up front on Saturday and was exceptional on the day."

Tweet

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 09 Feb 12

Post a comment

Your Comment:

Registered users log in here

Username or email

Password

You must be logged in to post. If you have not registered with us, please do so now.

Registration only takes a few minutes. Registered users do not have to complete word verification once logged in and can also take part in competitions and other registered user only features of the site.

Word Verification:
Enter the text as shown.

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Sport archives.