Mark Stafford believes his team’s last-gasp winner against Limavady could be a turning point in their season.

The Mallards had conceded late goals in three of their last five matches before Saturday, costing them an additional seven points in the league.

Their inability to hold onto a lead culminated in an agonising home defeat to Institute when they emerged with nothing to show from the game despite leading with just six minutes remaining.

On Saturday, the roles were reversed, however, with the Mallards snatching victory with an injury-time winner from Darragh Stewart.

The Mallards boss is now hopeful the victory is a sign that they have learnt from their previous mistakes.

“I think last week’s defeat against Institute felt different and clearly we did learn from that,” he said.

“We didn’t go under against Limavady. We looked like the team that was going to go on and win the game instead of looking like the team that was desperately trying to save a point.

"I spoke to the players at training on Tuesday before the weekend’s game, and I just felt in the changing room that that had been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

"I had seen them disappointed before with the late goals and letting points slip, but last week it seemed to hit them a bit harder and maybe that was the moment that they were starting to hurt properly.

"This week it was our turn to be on the right side of a late goal, and I’m hoping now we are in a good place going into next week.”

Stafford admitted that there was little to choose between the teams on the day, but he was delighted to snatch a win that lifts them into the top half of the NIFL Championship table.

“The performance of the players pleased me,” he said. “We started the game poor enough, they had a bit of pressure on us.

"They have very good players out wide and they caused our full-backs a few problems early on and we gave away a penalty, but thankfully. Just like we missed our penalty early in the game against Newry, they missed theirs against us.

"Then we came into the game well and we were causing them problems in wide areas and they got both their full-backs booked early doors. We got in front, but we came out in the second half and started poorly.

"We gave away a few set pieces and conceded from a free kick and that shook us for ten minutes, but we always looked dangerous at the top end of the pitch.

"We kept knocking the door and Darragh Stewart scored a great goal and then we needed an unbelievable block by Richie Johnston to keep the three points.

"A draw probably would have been a fair result. We looked a bit more dangerous going forward with our pace, but they had good spells as well.”

The Mallards welcome newly promoted Armagh City to Ferney Park this Saturday, and Stafford will have to contend with a growing injury list ahead of the game.

Aaron Harkin and Jamie Dunne both picked up knocks in the Limavady match, and Simon Warrington has a hamstring strain.

Gary Armstrong has been able to do some light running but Saturday will come too soon for a return to action, and Alex Holder and Calum.

Moorehead also remained sidelined. Despite the injury concerns, Stafford is targeting three points against Armagh as he looks to secure back-to-back wins for the first time this season.

“Teams like Armagh are where we need to be picking points, especially on our home patch,” he admitted.

“I have watched two or three of their games already and it is very evident that they work very hard for their manager. They are probably one of the hardest-working teams in the league.

"They don’t give you any time on the ball at all and they are very good at what they do. They had a fantastic start to the season, but they have had a few defeats in the past few weeks.

"They have good players and loads of quality about them, and a few ex-pros that have played Irish league, so we will have to play well on Saturday. We need to play on the front foot and cause them problems and try to get a result.”