Injury prone midfielder Stuart Hutchinson is hopeful his injury woes are a thing of the past. Stuart’s football career has been plagued by a succession of problems that have left him on the treatment table instead of the pitch and he has had to watch much of Ballinamallard’s Premier League exploits from the sidelines.

He once again started the season short of match time, but in recent weeks he has established himself in the centre of midfield and he is hoping he can now get a sustained run of games for the first time.

“It took me a while to get going in the first few games of the season, but I’ve started the last three and played 90 minutes in them all, and that is as long a run as I have ever had,” he said. “I think I’m over the injuries, touch wood. Hopefully that is the end of them and I can play for the rest of the season.” In the last three matches Stuart has to adapt his game slightly as the manager has played him at the base of a diamond formation in midfield, and he is enjoying his new role. “I’m playing a wee bit deeper which I am enjoying,” he said. “We changed it up at half time against Portadown and I’m happy to play anywhere. I can play on the right or wherever Whitey wants me to play.” Stuart has happy memories of playing against Portadown having scored the winner against them at Ferney Park last season, but there was no happy ending this week and he admits the team are getting frustrated by the errors that are costing them points this season.

“We are giving away stupid goals, just like the last few weeks, and we can’t afford to be doing that,” he said. “When we are on the ball we are putting together some good passages of play, and we have good players like Johnny Lafferty and John Currie playing well but when you give away stupid goals it is always hard to play catch up. We are leaking simple goals, and we are not defending balls over the top. Against Portadown there were two long balls over the top and you shouldn’t be conceding goals from that. It’s basic football. We just need to get back onto the training ground and work out why it is happening. It’s frustrating because we know we can get results against teams like this, but we need to show it on the pitch. We can’t keep talking about it. We need to get back on to the training ground and put some work in.” Ballinamallard have the perfect chance to boost morale when Linfield visit Ferney on Saturday. The Mallards have recorded two memorable victories at Windsor Park since their promotion but they have yet to beat the Belfast side on Fermanagh soil. Stuart reckons this Saturday could be the day they put that right. “Linfield are not in the best form either so there is definitely a chance for us to get points and hopefully we will.”