When Mark Stafford returned to Ballinamallard United last January it was hoped that it would be the signing that would push the Ducks on towards securing promotion.

However, it was not to be; the Mallards had a blip in results which ended their ambitions while Stafford struggled with fitness and form following an operation prior to the start of that season.

However, he is now fully rested and ready for the start of the season and eager to get going.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I took a complete break at the end of the season, I didn’t do anything at all in preparation for pre-season, I just needed to get away from football for a while because I had a really tough season last season with my surgery and I didn’t recover as well as I would have liked.

“Then it didn’t work out for me at Glenavon and I wanted to get out and I went back to Ballinamallard to try and find a bit of form and actually I struggled.

“The operation took a lot out of me but I’ve had a really good pre-season, Hugh Donnelly has worked us really hard and the lads are in good shape although we still have a bit to do yet.

“I definitely feel though that I’m in a better place this year than I was at the start of last season, I feel I’m in as good a shape as I was when I left Linfield before my operation.”

The centre half also admits that it took time to re-adjust to life away from Linfield.

“It was a big shock to me, I was up there for six years and without really knowing it you find yourself in a routine and the way things are done you just go from week to week and game to game and then all of a sudden it is not there anymore and you miss it.

“You miss the pressure and the changing room and the big games.

“I didn’t think it would affect me mentally as much as it did, I really struggled for a while with it all.”

But, he says that his head is now in the right place and he hopes that his performances will show that.

“I really do now feel that I have settled back now into the changing room and I have my head in the right place.

“I know the challenge that is ahead now and I know the standard of football that I’m playing at now and it is going to be difficult for us but I am in a much better place mentally and physically I’m in a better place. I just hope that my performances on the pitch can be better than last year,” he added.

Stafford was of course captain when the Mallards famously won the Championship to reach the Premiership for the first time back in 2011 and he knows just how tough a league it can be with consistency the key to mounting a promotion push.

“You see the results, any team that has any sort of consistency at all will win that league.

“It is very hard to go on a run of wins in this league but if you can string three or four results together and then go on another wee streak, that’s what’s required at this level, there is not much between the teams so it is hard to win game after game after game.

“The players are all very fit and some of the pitches are not overly great so it is not easy to win games and play football the way we want to play it but that’s the beauty of the league we are playing in.

“It is very competitive and when you win it you deserve to be promoted,” he stated.

The Mallards wrapped up their pre-season programme on Saturday with a 2-2 draw with Dungannon Swifts at Ferney Park and Stafford felt there was signs in the game that they are moving in the right direction.

“I really liked our performance against Dungannon on Saturday, we looked like a team.

“Dungannon had a lot of possession but we worked really hard and the attitude of the players was excellent and we got ourselves back into the game and drew 2-2 against a quality side. The signs are good but we are still a work in progress and hopefully we can improve week by week,” he commented.

For now though the whole focus is on Ballyclare and Stafford knows from previous campaigns that it is a difficult opener for the Ducks.

“The fixture that we have been given to start is a notoriously hard one for us as we never do well at Ballyclare’s ground. I think I remember only once in my year’s at the club winning there, it was always draws and defeats.

“It is a very hard place for us to go but these are the sort of grounds we need to go to now as a club and get results and start turning those teams over if we want to do anything this season.

“We are under no illusion about the challenge, it is going to be really hard.

Ballyclare have had a really good pre-season and they will be ready for us but likewise we are the same, we are ready for them,” he concluded.