‘We need to be careful that the season doesn’t peter out’
BALLINAMALLARD United are determined to finish the NIFL Championship season in a positive fashion despite losing their first post-split match, according to manager Tommy Canning.
The unsuccessful trip to Knockbreda on Easter Tuesday was the Mallards’ sole away fixture of their last five, and the boss is hoping home advantage for each of the remaining league games will result in a winning end to the campaign.
“We need to be careful that the season doesn’t peter out, and any of the good work that was done in the last three or four months doesn’t evaporate,” said Canning, ahead of Saturday’s Ferney Park clash against Newington.
“We are at home for all of the last four games, and we have fared better at home than away all season, so it is a big opportunity. We wanted a 100% record in the post-split games but we got off to a bad start on that.
“We just have to get on the horse again and finish the season out well.”
Missing players
Canning was without Callum Moorehead, Josh Mcilwaine and Darragh Byrne in attack, as well as Peter Maguire and Aaron Harkin, but the manager still felt that the starting 11 should have been strong enough to come away with the points.
“That is still no justification for the result,” he said. “I felt the team we put out could have and should have got something out of the game.
“In the first half we carried a bit of a threat and were dominant in many ways, but we started the second half really, really poorly. They had a number of free kicks and corners in and around the box in the opening five or 10 minutes and we ended up paying the price from one of them.”
Outside of the two teams encamped in the relegation zone, Ballinamallard have the lowest goals tally in the Championship, and for the fourth time in five games, they once again failed to find the back of the net.
“The old concerns came back to bite us today,” acknowledged Canning. “We had huge amounts of possession, especially in the second half, and huge amounts of territory, but we really didn’t do anything with it.
“I don’t think their keeper had a save to make in the second half. The worrying thing about it is that we are a bit toothless. Macca [Mcilwaine] is not there, Simon [Warrington] has been away with work for a week and was on the bench, Darragh Byrne not there, Callum [Moorehead] not there.
“We had four or five attacking players not on the pitch, and that maybe lends something to it, but nonetheless against a team that is at the bottom of the table, you expect to at least make the keeper work. If their keeper was man of the match and made a lot of good saves then you could put your hands up, but we didn’t come near asking enough questions of their keeper. That is the frustrating part of it.”
Canning will still be without Mcilwaine and Moorehead for Saturday’s game against Newington, but Darragh Byrne will come back into contention, as will Aaron Harkin.