Ballinamallard manager Harry McConkey wants his players to embrace the challenge this Saturday when they face runaway league leaders Larne at Ferney Park.

Larne are 17 points clear at the top of the table and unbeaten in the league to date and while McConkey acknowledges the size of the task for his side, he will be looking for a positive display from his team following their first defeat in seven league games last week at home to Loughgall.

“This is a game that nobody will give us any chance in as they have made very few blips,” said the Ducks boss. “They drew recently with Dergview but they went out and put that right last week by putting five past Dergview so they are back in a very positive frame of mind.

“Look, not too many will give us much hope in this one but that is sometimes when you are at your best. There is no doubt that the quality players that they have will enjoy coming down to play on our quality pitch so it is going to be a very difficult afternoon for us in terms of how much work we are going to have to put into this game to get anything out of it.”

They key for McConkey, as has been the case throughout their recent good run of results, is to stay in the game ealry on and then work their way into it.

“The approach is that we have got to stay in the game which is what I have been repeating for every game. We will be looking to keep the door locked at the back and work our way into the game. We will have to be very cagey and probably a game where we play on the counter because if you match them and try and play an open game there is a danger that they could run amok.

“They have won 15 and drawn three of their 18 league games and they have been scoring for fun and not conceding many so it is going to be tough. It is though great for us. We will prepare very positively this week and the players should relish this chance to test themselves against quality players. We will embrace it and work hard.” he stated.

The Ferney Park outfit though have a number of injuries to deal with ahead of the clash.

“Hoping that Jay McCartney will be alright but Dwayne McManus is probably another week away while Josh is likely to be out after picking up a hamstring injury. Then we have Darragh and Micheal who are obviously out as well.”

The defeat to Loughgall last week brought o an end a fine run by the Mallards that lifted them off the bottom but McConkey felt his side displayed signs of tiredness on Saturday.

“There seemed to be a little bit of tiredness in some of our play and some players seemed to be lagging a bit.

“We thought we had momentum when we got it back to 1-1 and we spoke at half time about pushing on but they took hold of the game after their second goal and we didn’t threaten them enough.

“We were struggling to get a hold of the ball and in fairness they kept the ball really well.

“We will just have to regroup now and look to go again,” he stated.