Ballinamallard Manager Harry McConkey has set his sights on getting a first league victory of the season on Saturday, when third-placed Dundela visit Ferney Park.

Saturday’s draw against Institute was the Mallards’ fourth in a row, but, with the gap to the top clubs growing ever larger, the boss has called on his players to produce a performance this weekend that will kick-start their campaign.

“We still need to take care of the ball better at times and we need to make sure we are winning our battles all over the park, and not just in the back line,” said McConkey, as he looked ahead to the clash.

“It is a very tough Dundela team coming to us, and they have got off to a very good start, but yet they got turned over by Ballyclare who we could have beaten. Yet again this league challenge is showing anybody can beat anybody else on the day. We need a good, strong, solid performance.”

The two sides met on four occasions last season with Dundela never managing to get the better of the Ducks, but Harry will be hoping his injury crisis has eased ahead of Saturday’s game as he looks to keep that run going.

Ballinamallard were without Ruari Sludden, John Edgar, Caolan McAleer, Ben McCann and Shane McGinty for last week’s match at the Brandywell, and Darragh Byrne had to be withdrawn at half-time with a tight hamstring, but McConkey is hopeful at least some of the injured group will be able to declare themselves available for selection against Dundela.

“These are injuries that we really didn’t need at such an early stage of the season, and it has never been clearer why you need depth to your squad,” he said. “We need to get that quality of player back into the squad as soon as possible, as this league is very unforgiving.”

Maintained

Despite the absentees on Saturday, the Mallards maintained their unbeaten run against Institute thanks to a Mark Stafford equaliser.

“The thing that pleased me yet again was that we did respond,” said McConkey.

“Last season at times we might not have responded, but we came back at them with a really good goal. Reece showed real quality when he slipped Mark in with a lovely pass and Staff’s finish was clinical.

“When we got the goal we were in a good place and we were the team with momentum, but the game was open and there was still that end to end element.

“If we could have found a little bit of magic late in the game, we could have won it, but you knew it needed only one bad bounce or one piece of slackness for them to win it.

“I thought our two centre halves and the goalkeeper were probably the stand-out players last Saturday, and that says a lot about the resilience we have, which is good.”

Stafford’s strike was only the Mallards’ second goal of the campaign, and while their defensive record has been good, the manager knows they must increase their tally in front of goal if they are to make a charge up the league table.

“Yet again we failed to finish when we got the opportunity,” he admitted. “We worked all week on our crossing and finishing and our runs into the box, and the frustration at times is that we have not been able to do what we practiced.

“That will maybe take some more time for our new faces, but we have players who know what is expected of them, and that is a frustration that runs throughout the team.

“We don’t do the simple things well enough at times. There was a lot of goalmouth action on the day, and the neutral might have enjoyed that, but for both coaching teams I’m sure there was great frustration because both of us know we could have won, and yet could so easily have lost it.

“Both teams needed the three points and not one, and yes, you come away with very mixed feelings.”