Ballinamallard manager Harry McConkey has pledged to give the players his full support as they look to end their run of five consecutive defeats against Newington this Saturday.

The Ducks travel to the league leaders on the back of a pointless run that has seen them drop from second in the league to second last, but McConkey is confident that his squad has the quality to recover from their poor start.

“My job is not to get distracted by worrying about the possible consequences, but to focus on making a difference and the only way I feel I can do this is by continuing to support my boys on and off the pitch in my role as manager of Ballinamallard United.

“In tough times like this young and indeed experienced players need a positive role model and a very clear picture of what is expected of them as they move forward and grow in strength as a group,” he said.

Saturday’s defeat to Portadown failed to yield the points the manager is desperately seeking, but he feels there were enough positives in the performance to allow them to approach this week’s trip to Inver Park with some belief.

“I think the way we played against Portadown, particularly that first half, it bodes well for us going forward,” he said.

“At the moment, what we are suffering from is not being clinical enough in the box and making sure that at the back we have that security lock on all the time. That is the message that has been going out for several weeks now. If we do stick together in this, and work hard in our training, I do know that we have the ability in the team to turn it around, but it needs to come as soon as possible.”

Portadown had come into the season as hot favourites for the title, and after a shaky opening to their campaign they are now on a run of three consecutive wins. McConkey felt his side had a great opportunity to halt their winning streak, but once again they lacked a cutting edge in front of goal.

“Jack had a couple of saves to make in the first half, but there was really very little threat from them and in terms of building the play we were much superior,” he reckoned. “Niall Currie (Portadown manager) said after the game that he thought we were very good, but its that old chestnut yet again - very good but nothing tangible to show for it in terms of points.”

The manager was also frustrated with the manner of Portadown’s opening goal, which came just seconds into the second half.

“I warned our players that Niall was famous for his ‘no mixing of words’ half time team talks and he will demand his players step it up, so I told the lads we must negate his talk by being solid in defence for the first 10 minutes but by the time I got to my dug out we were a goal down.

Criminal

“That is criminal. We needed to build on what we had and be ready for that first 10 minutes, but we lost the ball high up the park and then missed a tackle in the middle of the field.

“When we should have been on the front foot, we put ourselves on the back foot, and one ball beats our defence and that is far too easy and unnecessary.

“Then of course in the 94th minute, their second goal looks a good yard or two offside to me. I was right in line with it, but Mayse didn’t hesitate and stuck it past Jack and that made it look like another demoralising defeat, but on the performance itself it certainly wasn’t that. Its vital that as a manager, you know the players are playing for you, and playing in a structure and style that they believe in. There is a general acceptance in the group that we know we must finish all our good work off with that last part by being clinical in the box. It would change everything.”

Ballinamallard are hoping to welcome back captain Mark Stafford for the clash against Newington, after he had to pull out of the squad against Portadown due to injury.

“It was a big loss to lose Mark’s influence on the pitch last Saturday, but we are hoping that he will make good progress this week,” revealed McConkey. “

It is a thigh strain and its not as bad as last season, where he missed two months with the same type of injury. We do hope he will be in contention for a place.

“Aaron Arkinson has come back to very light training which has been a real surprise for us because the outlook has not been good for him, but at the moment it is a very tentative return and realistically I don’t think he will come into consideration,” added McConkey.