Ballinamallard United are into the top three in the Championship for the first time this season and captain Richard Clarke is confident they will challenge for promotion.
The Mallards have won five of their last seven matches after a slow start to the campaign and are behind second-placed Loughgall on goal difference only.
Clarke explained to Match on Tuesday: “Covid really hit our squad hard and there were so many player exits, which hurt our momentum.
“Ryan Mayse, Matty Smyth, Darragh McBrien – key players who all moved on which meant we had to make big changes to the team.
“Sean McEvoy left us for a while, although thankfully he has returned.
“We always seem to have a slow start in the division and I cannot pinpoint why, as our preparation and pre-season is always top notch.
“Now we have assembled a squad which has a good mix of youth and experience, but we know we can be achieving even more on the pitch.”
While a series of star player departures derailed the Mallards momentum, there is belief and optimism that they will soon bounce back into the top-flight.
“Ballinamallard have everything in place to be a top-flight club in the long term,” added the experienced midfielder.
“We know that we have to earn that on the pitch, we were relegated from the Premiership and have not yet bounced back, but we know what we are capable of.
“We are a club who are consistently producing youth players and developing players, it is a sustainable project and I have no doubts it will pay off.”
Saturday’s win over Ballyclare continued their recent good form and ensured they recovered immediately having been edged out at Newry City the previous week.
“It has taken us a little while to find consistency, which has been the same for most teams in the league,” Clarke continued.
“This has been the toughest league that I have played in during the Championship, with the standards really.
“There are five or six clubs who could win the league and we just need to be among them and try to keep our run of positive results going.”
The Mallards will have the chance to leapfrog Loughgall next with the two sides meeting at Lakeview Park this weekend.
