Ballinamallard are looking to put together four consecutive victories for the first time in over 18 months when they travel to play Knockbreda this weekend.

The Mallards made it three from three on Friday evening with a 1-0 win over HW Welders, and another victory on Saturday would provide their best run of results since a five game winning streak that started in December 2019.

“We want to keep our run going if we possibly can,” admitted manager Harry McConkey, who refuses to get carried away with their recent successes.

“We are starting to climb, but ultimately it is still only two league games that we have won. When we go to Knockbreda we always feel that it presents an opportunity to add to this momentum, but they have pulled off a couple of really good results this year.

"They struggled to stay in the division last season and were in the relegation play offs, but they have come back with a real appetite. They have beaten the Welders and Dergview and Newington, and they are all opponents we have found difficult, so I have no doubt that they will fancy themselves at home as they look to build on their win at Dergview. It is another great game in this league where you have to give it your full attention.”

After a concerning start to the campaign, there is now a positive mood around the club after three wins inside one week.

“It was a good start to the week and a good end to the week,” acknowledged McConkey. “I said after last weekend that we needed to follow up on our 4-1 win, and I was delighted we did that with a good performance on Tuesday night and again on Friday. We juggled the team a bit on Tuesday to make sure we had fresh legs with key players, and I was delighted with Friday’s level of performance as well as the level of commitment. I thought we deserved to win it.”

The manager had particular praise for his centre back pairing, as well as BJ Banda, who was rewarded with his first goal of the season.

“I was delighted with Lee Warnock and Peter Maguire at the back,” said Harry. “They marshalled the defence really well, especially McLelland who is a real danger. They were outstanding on the night, and I was delighted for BJ to get his goal. He hit the bar and I thought he has been working so hard in all the games. You could see the relief on his face when he stuck the ball in the net, and that is something that was very pleasing. Let’s hope now he is up and running.

"We were disappointed with some of our finishing, but the great thing for me was that there was a real intent to try and get shots on goal. We are still lacking someone getting in at that back post area which is something we need to address. BJ showed that exact determination for his goal, and showed a real hunger and desire to get there first after a great team move. Around that back post area is sometimes where we fail to get people in when we are very confident that if we get to the wide area we are going to get a good delivery from Caolan or BJ. We need to capitalise a bit more on that.”

The manager will welcome back several players ahead of the match against Knockbreda.

Mark Stafford is available for selection again having missed out on Friday night, and Richard Clarke has recovered from injury. Ben McCann is also starting to get some minutes under his belt as he manages his return to action, but Reece Byrne will not feature following his relocation to England.