Ballinamallard manager Harry McConkey praised the attitude and belief of his players, after they came from behind to secure a point against Dundela at Ferney Park.

The Belfast side dominated the first quarter of the match and led through a Carl McComb goal, but in recent weeks the Mallards have shown they are a different side to the fragile team that often capitulated as they fell to the foot of the league table a month ago.

This new Ballinamallard seem to have recovered their fighting spirit, and they bounced back to extend their unbeaten league run to four games.

“Earlier in the season we would have found that difficult to recover from, but now we have a self-belief that we are not out of games,” said Harry.

“We have been working very hard on staying in games when we suffer a blow like that. Every single time in this last few weeks players have responded to setbacks, and I was so happy with how we came back. It wasn’t the most wonderful of performances but it was a very positive step forward for us again being able to compete with a team that has an incredible record away from home.

“They don’t just beat teams 1-0, they beat them by four or five and they have had a wonderful season. They had pace and quality and it was great for us to know that we could live with that.”

Dundela came into the game looking to preserve an unbeaten away record this season, and in the opening quarter of the game there were very few signs that they would lose that record at Ferney Park as they dominated proceedings.

“I was very frustrated in the first 20 minutes,” admitted the Ballinamallard manager.

“I thought we were victims of our own poor play. There was far too much inconsistency in our passing and our holding up of the ball to give ourselves a chance to build the play. That was worrying early on because I knew how good a side they were.”

Joshua McIlwaine’s goal after 35 minutes started to turn the tide however, and McConkey was frustrated that a challenge on McBrien did not earn them a penalty that could have put them ahead before the half time interval. Despite the first half fight back, the manager knew Dundela would continue to pose a threat in the second half.

“We were still concerned at half time,” he acknowledged. “I told the players that we had to forget about the first 30 minutes and focus on the last 15 minutes which was very positive, because we now had them in a position where we could cause them problems. We started with a 343 and switched after the poor start to put Darragh in behind the front two and played a 352. I think he put pressure on PJ Murray who was causing problems and he nullified him and were able to get on top of them.”

On Saturday Ballinamallard travel to Knockbreda, and McConkey has vowed to attack.

“We will go there with a positive attitude,” he said. “Every point will be valuable in the league this season, but we know that when we are down where we are three points are what you are looking for. If we can get a result on Saturday against Knockbreda we can keep the momentum going and trying to build on what we have. They are a team that have had a bit of inconsistency. They have had some great results this year and were on a decent run until a few weeks ago and we know we need the same level of commitment from everybody to get anything out of it. They do have strengths and vulnerabilities. They have a decent front line, but I think if we can get our front line at their back line then we can cause them problems.”