Newbuildings United  0  Ballinamallard United 3

BALLINAMALLARD United boss Mark Stafford felt it was important for his side to perform in their opening pre-season fixture at Newbuildings United on Saturday – and they certainly did.

With pre-season an opportunity to assess potential new arrivals, Trialist 2 netted a brace for Ballinamallard in the first half, including an impressive free-kick. Aidan Brennan then added a third in the second half to seal victory for Ballinamallard in the stifling heat.

Stafford felt Saturday’s performance was a result of their hard work during the week and through the off-season.

“The boys worked hard during the week and I am sure there were a lot of tired legs on the pitch, especially in that heat,” said Stafford.

“But they had to turn up and perform, which they did. Saturday helped get rid of the rustiness from not playing since April and serves as an opportunity to iron out any errors and improve from there.”

Ballinamallard started brightly and almost scored inside the first minute. Daniel Barker was played through one-on-one, but the Newbuildings goalkeeper made a strong stop. The Mallards weren’t to be denied for long though, breaking the deadlock soon after. A pinpoint diagonal ball was played to Trialist 2, who took an excellent first touch before finishing into the top corner.

Newbuildings came back into it, with Gary Armstrong doing well in midfield to stifle any attacks form the hosts, while Ethan McCaffrey marked his return in the Ballinamallard goal with a couple of strong saves to keep the hosts out.

However, Jamie Dunne helped win a free-kick for the Mallards on the left side as Stafford’s side scored a second; Trialist 2 stepping up to curl an excellent free-kick over the wall and into the top corner to make it 2-0 at the interval.

With both sides making changes in the second half, the game became somewhat disjointed in the June heat, but this failed to dull the threat of the Ballinamallard attack, who added a third to secure victory.

Trialist 2 was again involved, playing in Aidan Brennan, who applied a composed finish underneath the goalkeeper for his first goal in Mallards colours since his arrival from Keadue Rovers.

“We will push on again next week,” insisted Stafford. “We have another good test against Fivemiletown United next week. The main thing from Saturday was to get minutes on the pitch and get a look at some players, which we were able to do.”

Their first pre-season game in the tank, the countdown is now on until the league season gets underway with Ballinamallard travelling to Ards for their opener on Friday, August 8.

Ballinmallard: Ethan McCaffrey, Dean Corrigan, Richard Johnston, Aaron Arkinson , Gary Armstrong, Trialist 1, James McGrath, Trialist 2, Jamie Dunne, Daniel Barker, Trialist 3. >hyp<>kern 0.02pt<>f 142<Substitutes:>hyp uk<>kern 0pt<>f 127< Aidan Brennan, Joshua McIlwaine, Callum Moorehead, Nathan Sherry, Sean McAteer.