Ballinamallard manager Harry McConkey admits he is likely to be without goalkeeper Rory Brown and captain Richard Clarke for Saturday evening’s visit to table toppers Ards.

Both players were forced off in the first half of Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Loughgall at Ferney Park and McConkey can’t see them being available for this week’s clash.

“We certainly would not expect to be able to consider Clarkie this week because it is a hamstring and Rory is ankle ligaments so I don’t think we will have him this week either,” said McConkey who will also assess the fitness of centre half Dean Curry who missed the Loughgall game due to injury.

“Dean is making steady progress but maybe this week is too soon for him. We will revisit that on Thursday night but at the moment there is uncertainty there,” he added.

Ards produced a strong performance in putting three past Ballyclare last Friday night to move top of the table and McConkey says that they will have taken great confidence from that result.

They had a very good performance against Ballyclare on Friday night and there is no doubt that they will have boosted their confidence and I expect they will be hoping to repeat that but we know that if we perform as well as we can we will make it difficult for them,” said McConkey.

“Our away form has been good without getting carried away with it and we have done our homework on Ards and we have seen mixed performances from them so far this season but they will definitely be lifted by last week.”

With Brown being a doubt it could lead to teenager Jamie Ray stepping in between the posts after he came on and produced an assured display against Loughgall.

“I was delighted for him,” said McConkey.

“He had a good run with us in pre-season and was probably a bit disappointed that he hasn’t been able to get much of a run in the interim and that is a key thing for us to try and keep his confidence up and his head up.

“He clearly wants to play as much as he can and yet we have to protect him too because there is a big jump from underage football to the senior game but we know that Saturday’s game will have done him no harm in terms of confidence and he has a very mature attitude for somebody so young.”

Despite losing key personnel on Saturday, McConkey feels that the Mallards could have taken the spoils at the death although he admits that there was little between the sides.

“I think you are left with a little bit of disappointment just from the fact that we had a last minute chance and we know if we score then that the game is over so maybe you feel a little disappointed at the end of it.

“But if I had been told beforehand that I would lose my goalkeeper early on and my captain too and we still would not concede any goals against a side that scored ten in their last two games then I would have been happy.

“I do think we could have shaded it on possession and opportunities on goal but there wasn’t a lot between the two teams on the day.”

What the game also showed was that a strong squad is going to be needed to get through the season and McConkey has urged patience among those players who maybe have not had much game time to date.

“We had 20 players there on Saturday and I could literally have put in any of them.

“But we need them to stick with us and we need them to be patient because there is 45 games if you include cup games so while it is natural for players to get frustrated when they don’t get enough game time it is a squad game now and there is a long period to go through.

“We seen how quickly it can all change with losing our goalkeeper and also our captain on Saturday,” said Harry.