Mark Stafford was left understandably frustrated as Ballinamallard again dropped points after conceding deep into injury time at Ferney Park.

Shane Boyle’s goal confined the Mallards to a 2-1 defeat to Institute in the Playr-Fit Championship.

A 94th-minute goal against Ards, earlier in the season, saw them drop points while they also conceded twice late on against Dundela.

Boss Stafford said: “It’s getting to be the same old story with us, at the minute. We seem to get ourselves in great positions and then we concede goals from set pieces and things like that, it’s very, very disappointing and even the players know themselves it can’t keep continuing like that there, we need to work on
and improve on it as best we can.

"I think we were in control and went 1-0 with a good header from Nathan Sherry, but after that, we kind of lost control of the game, either side I don’t think played particularly well.

"In the second half, we started to retreat a wee bit and then I thought we started to come back into it, had a really good chance to go 2-0 up through Darragh Stewart and then Ryan Morris had a couple of headers from a couple of corners that could have went in, then the last 10 minutes we started to go deep and they started crossing balls in with set pieces and things and that’s where the goals came from.”

Despite the loss, Stafford still says there’s plenty of positives after his team's opening seven league games.

“Yeah there’s a huge amount of positives, you know, when you see the amount of people we have out at the moment,” he added.

“Like Alex Holder didn’t play on Saturday after coming off against Newington there the week previous in the first 15 minutes, he’s going to be out for a month.

"If you see the amount of players we have out, I’m still very pleased with the performances of the boys that have come in, we’re very, very competitive in all the games.

"The first-half of the Welders came and the second half against Ards but there has been a lot of good things, I think we’ve scored 14 goals or around that in the league, we’re the third top scorers in the league, so, we just need to start looking after the latter end of games.

"We’re talking about now, nearly every week, this situation is happening, but I think Saturday was different, I think it hurt them (the players) a lot more than previous weeks.

"I'm just hoping now the penny has dropped and we’ll keep moving forward. The boys are giving me absolutely everything, they’re working very hard, I can't ask for much more of them, in terms of their application, but we just need to keep our concentration, we just need to be a bit more willing to win and a bit more desperate to win and we’ll be fine.”

Ballinamallard face a tough task this weekend as they make the trip to Limavady United, who lie second in the table, winning four of their seven games.

“It’s a very tough game, they’re obviously going very well,” Stafford continued.

“They’re last five games, four wins and a draw. They actually drew with Newington, the team we beat 5-1 at home there last Saturday.

"We know what way they play, they have a lot of good players, they have a former teammate of mine in midfield Stephen Lowry, a very good experienced player, Adam Mullan played at Coleraine, Rodney Brown, very experienced players, (Ian) Parkhill at Coleraine, so, they have a very good team with quality and energy around that, it will be a big test away from home.

"They’re unbeaten in five, it’s a big test but one we look forward to.”