Disappointing goals and spurned opportunities told the story for Ballinamallard United boss Tommy Canning as he reviewed Saturday’s ‘unacceptable’ defeat at home to Bangor.
The Ducks’ form at Ferney Park had read well before bumping into the promotion-challenging duo of Portadown, and now Bangor, as those two defeats either-side of a draw at Dergview terminated their top-six hopes for this season.
And the manner of the loss this past weekend irked Canning, though he hopes that uncharacteristic result is just a blip in the road for his side.
“A 4-0 defeat at home just isn’t acceptable. We spoke in the dressing room for a while after it and as a collective we agree that we can’t allow that to happen,” he said.
“In saying that, there’s also some understanding that sometimes these things happen in football and it’s not a crisis of any sort, and it’s not something that’s happened on a regular basis either (but) it can’t be something that we are willing to accept.”
Conceding early and again just before half-time is never a recipe for success, but there were plenty of positives for Canning from the rest of the first half.
“We conceded in the first five minutes from something that we’d talked about being one of Bangor’s specific threats – the ball up to Arthurs and good movement off him – and it’s disappointing that they scored so early from that when it would have been fresh in the players’ heads.
“The second right on the stroke of half-time, again we’ve conceded from a corner, and they’re things as a coach you try and eradicate as much as possible.
“But other than that, for 40 minutes in the first half we were tremendous and that sounds like a crazy thing to say after a 4-0 defeat, but we played some brilliant football and were in control of the game.
“We had them pinned back, forced into a change of shape, and numerous chances. The frustrating thing is, had we been more clinical on Saturday I think we would have won the game.
“In the 2-1 defeat at home to Portadown, again we missed big opportunities in that game to go further ahead. So that’s an issue for us. And that really was the tale of the first half.”
Ballinamallard tried to respond after the break, though of no avail and were picked off late, but it all left Canning and his team with plenty to chew on ahead of a visit to league leaders Dundela this Saturday.
“Second half we didn’t reach the same levels. We made some changes and didn’t really do enough to put enough pressure on (James) Taylor in nets for Bangor, and again conceded two disappointing goals,” added Canning.
“The third we really should defend the ball better in the corner… and the fourth one is another set play. We conceded bad goals which again we haven’t been that guilty of, but we really are giving up lots of chances and we’re not ruthless enough in front of goal at the minute, and that’s what we need to address moving forward.”
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