The visit of Premiership side Glenavon to Ferney Park on Saturday is the perfect opportunity for the Mallards to bounce back from a crushing 4-0 defeat to Annagh United, according to Manager Harry McConkey.

Gary Hamilton’s free-scoring side make the trip to Fermanagh for the fifth round of the Samuel Gelston’s Whiskey Irish Cup, and McConkey believes his side can benefit from being the underdogs.

“Annagh was a horrible, horrible result and it is one we have to very quickly get over, but the saving grace for us is that we have a wonderful game to look forward to against Glenavon at home in the Irish Cup,” he said.

“It is away from the pressures of the league, and nobody gives us a chance. If Glenavon were watching that game they will think they have nothing to worry about, but I would be very shocked if we perform like that again.

“This is going to be another massive battle for us, but we should be able to play with some freedom because nobody expects us to do anything against a team of that quality.

“Glenavon are a team that like to play on the front foot, but they can be caught on the counter, and we have players with pace to hurt them if they leave space in behind.

“We do expect them to come at us gung-ho and we know we have to be much better at defending counter attacks. That is what did for us against Annagh when we presented them with the ball and then left so much space for them to play around us because we were out of shape.

“As leader of the group, I carry the can for the results and on Thursday night at training it is my job to regroup them and get them ready to give this a real good go, because it is something they should be embracing.

“Football has a knack of throwing up the unexpected and that is what the Irish Cup does. No one knows that better than ourselves. It is a game that the boys have been looking forward to since the draw came out,” he added.

The Mallards’ recent run of results has yielded just one win in their last eight, and following Saturday’s defeat to Annagh, the Manager has admitted that he may need to use the January transfer window to juggle his squad options.

“We may have to reshape the squad itself a little bit over the January period because we need a bit of freshness,” he admitted.

“That will not be easy but it is something we will be having a look at in the coming weeks. Like other clubs, there is a bit of transfer business going on in the background, but it is like the domino effect.

“You can’t move for a player until someone else moves first, but we are trying to get a goalkeeper across the line, which we clearly need, and that is something we want to complete as soon as possible.”

The need for a goalkeeper was apparent on Saturday, as ex Northern Ireland and Manchester United player Roy Carroll appeared in the starting line-up for a one-off appearance.

The manager’s hand was forced as Jamie Ray was serving a one-game suspension, and McConkey had no hesitation in approaching the 45-year-old.

“It was imperative we needed to find a keeper and Roy is someone I have kept in touch with throughout the years, so I rang him, and I said half joking and half serious, ‘What about yourself?’,” explained McConkey.

“He asked for 24 hours to think about it, and he came back and said he would give it a go. We were delighted about that, and he came in and trained on Thursday and Saturday to get to know the back three.

“He was excellent in terms of his attitude and what he gave on the training pitch and pre-match. It was a joy to see him work and see what a keeper of his experience can give to the squad.”

The fairytale return was abruptly ended after 35 minutes however, when a hamstring injury forced him off, to be replaced by another new signing in Josh Brownlee.

“Roy started the game extremely well but he went to kick the ball and he slipped a little and felt a wee twinge, but thought it was nothing.

“Then, when he was forced to make a very good stop for their first goal, he made the first save and got up quickly to make the second, and he felt the hamstring go.

“We moved to sign Josh Brownlee, who was looking to return to the club and fight for a place, and would be mainly with our under-20s, but when Josh went in I thought he acquitted himself very well in the circumstances.”

The Manager felt that up until the concession of the first goal his side were the better team, but poor decision-making proved costly.

“Up until that injury we had them pinned in for a while, but we got caught on the counter because we gave the ball away needlessly, and that has been happening far too often,” he admitted.

“I said to the players after the game that our downfall was our decision-making. We gave away passes when we could have taken different options that were easier, the midfield went back at times when we could have gone forward, and up front we should have been popping shots away when we were choosing the intricate pass instead.

“On the half hour, they hadn’t one shot on goal and only had one cross that Roy cut out extremely well. Apart from that they hadn’t worried us, and we had opportunities on the break but made the wrong decisions.

“Whoever scored first on Saturday I felt would have a great chance because they were coming off a 3-0 defeat to Loughgall and I felt they did look vulnerable, but we weren’t good enough to exploit that.

“We just don’t have the consistency that we need to compete with the top teams in this league.”