Ballinamallard manager Harry McConkey says his side have to aim for top spot in the Championship.

Last Saturday’s top of the table clash against Portadown finished in a 3-3 draw which left the Mallards six points behind the leaders but McConkey says the target has to be to catch the Ports.

“”It is a case of one game at a time, we have always said that. It is about ourselves and the players have to perform week in, week out to a high level. Top of the table is what we aspire to, we can’t be looking to try and hang on to second place, we have to be chasing top spot and until that is mathematically not possible we have to be giving everything in our powers to try and achieve that,” he stated.

McConkey admits to having mixed emotions about Saturday’s draw at Shamrock Park. The Ducks got off to an awful start that saw them trail 2-0 after only 16 minutes but they responded superbly to take a 3-2 lead with seven minutes to go.

However, a late, late equaliser meant the sides shared the points as the Ports maintained their six point advantage at the top of the table.

“I was very proud of the efforts of the players. Yes it was a bit disappointing not to get the three points when we led 3-2 late on but at 2-0 down I would have taken your hand off for a point,” said McConkey.

An Adam Salley double had looked to haver put the Mallards in all sorts of trouble but the reaction after that delighted McConkey who felt that half time came at the wrong time for his side.

“After we went two down we went on the front foot from then on and like any game that we have played against Portadown, we stepped up to the mark and for me we dominated so much of the ball and it was the fluency in our play and the fact that we were putting them on the back foot.

“We got a goal back through Jay and that had us back in the game and then we got a penalty but the keeper made a great save from Clarkie. The lovely thing is that we didn’t wallow in that and straight after Mattie headed in at the near post to make it 2-2.

“I think the half time whistle came at the wrong time for us as we had great momentum built up after getting off to a horrible start to the game,” he added.

McConkey expected the Ports to come out strong at the start of the second half but the Ducks managed to ride that out before going on to take the lead.

“It was a buoyant changing room at half time but the one thing I said to them was that it would have been awful that after such a response that we would let it slip.

“We knew they would come out and put a lot of pressure on us which is what they did but we battled well and after that we started to take control again and with 83 minutes gone we took the lead.”

However, McConkey was disappointed with the Portadown equaliser which came in added on time and feels there are a couple of lessons for his side to take out of the game.

“We needed to defend the free kick better although Luke Wilson read it brilliantly and side footed it home.

“That is a learning that we will have to take out of the game, how we defend that situation in future because it cost us.

“Another learning is that we have to make sure that we concentrate right to the end because we have conceded late goals in our last two games and that has cost us,” said the Mallards boss.

He believes though that if they can produce that level of intensity and performance on a consistent basis then they are more than a match for any team in the division.

“There was a lot more positives than negatives.

“We played at a good tempo and when we do that not too many teams can live with us. Portadown have struggled to deal with us in all three matches and that is where my great hope is. If this is the benchmark of a team that is hoping to win that league, we know ourselves that we are well capable of matching that but we need to do it with points and consistency not just with performances every time we play Portadown. We need to be doing it week in, week out,” he said.

And he will be looking for that to start this Saturday when they host Ards at Ferney Park.

“We were lucky to get a draw with the last kick of the game the first time they were down with us and then away to them we dominated long parts of the game but they stole it in injury time.

“They have good quality players in their team and they will want a response from their loss to PSNI last Friday night.”