Ballinamallard goalkeeper John Connolly is remaining positive despite the Mallards having to endure a poor run of form that has seen them fail to win their last four league games.

Two points from a possible 12 have seen them slip to third in the league table with their last league victory coming on Boxing Day, but Connolly is remaining upbeat.

“We have to stay positive,” he said.

“When you look at the bigger picture at this stage of the season, we have a trophy in the bag and we are in the quarter final of the Irish Cup, so although we have slipped to third in the league we can’t be getting downhearted.

“We still have so many games to go and so many points to play for. Naturally when teams lose games there is going to be negativity around it, but inside that changing room we have got to remain positive and that was said after the Newry game.

“There is a long way to go and the only way to turn things around is by sticking together and remaining positive and even by working that little bit harder than we normally do.”

Ballinamallard’s two defeats to Newry and Loughgall were both by a single goal, and Connolly believes they are continuing to show enough quality and their results will turn sooner rather than later.

“In that run of games we were playing a few of the better teams in the league and they are always going to be difficult games,” he said.

“They were all close, and even the last game against Newry I thought we were the better team. We maybe didn’t create a lot of chances but I thought it had 0-0 written all over it but they got the penalty decision and we didn’t get the one after that. That’s the way things go sometimes and you have to pick yourself up and go again.

“We have talked about tempo and that is still good in training and I don’t think it’s having a big effect on the squad. We know on our day if we click we can beat every team in the league, and it’s just about getting that bit of consistency back.”

Despite their recent disappointing run of results Ballinamallard are still only two goals off the best defensive record in the league, and their veteran goalkeeper has been an important part of that dependable defence.

The 43 year old has been one of the star performers and he is showing no signs of losing his love of the game.

“I still love training and playing the games,” he admitted.

“I’m in a dressing room with a group of young lads and it keeps you feeling young. I certainly don’t feel old. When I’m training I’ve got no problems keeping up with the younger goalkeepers when we are doing our sessions, so it’s all going okay.”

After the recent run of games against the League’s top sides, the Mallards do not meet any of the top five in their six remaining games before the league splits in half.

That run starts with the visit of PSNI on Saturday, and Connolly knows they have to return to winning ways.

“The way that things have gone, we now have to be looking to get maximum points out of every game we go into,” admitted John.

“We know PSNI got a new manager a couple of weeks ago and have picked up a couple of decent results in the league. They will come to Ballinamallard with a plan to try to frustrate us for as long as possible and it’s up to us to try to break them down and get that valuable three points.”