Ards assistant’s resolute message amid recent woes
THREE defeats on the bounce does not constitute a crisis in the eyes of Ards FC assistant boss Daryl Phillips.
After a positive start to the campaign, Ards have seen their season hit something of a road block with a trio of losses in which they have conceded eight goals and found the net just once.
John Bailie’s right-hand man stressed their side have got the tools to turn recent fortunes around, but need to begin to find consistency fast.
“It comes down to moments,” reflected long-time backroom staff member Phillips.
“On Saturday [against Institute], I think once we conceded we lacked a bit of belief and the boys were maybe a bit nervous. We’re doing everything we can to turn that around.
“There’s no doubt about it that the Championship is an unforgiving league,” he said. “Any team that doesn’t turn up on the day and perform, they usually lose the game or certainly they don’t win it.
“It’s just finding that level of consistency because on our day, one to 11 or one to 18 we’re as good as anybody.
”Phillips continued: “Barring one or two results, we haven’t really been out of reach in many other games.
“Even going back to the Annagh match, we lost that but for a good 80 minutes I thought we were well on top.
“That’s the unforgiving nature of the Championship, but we have to put it to bed, try to work harder as both players and staff and put it right at Ballinamallard on Friday,” he said.
“We know that we have the capability of matching anybody, we showed that against Dungannon in the League Cup, but no matter who we’re up against or where we’re playing, we have to turn up because that’s the bare minimum.
“That’s what we are trying to demand and what the players need to find. People can say it’s easy to raise your game for the bigger games, but to me that’s nonsense – you should be up for every game once you step onto that pitch.
“There are suggestions that because we aren’t scoring many goals it’s a crisis. If you look at the rest of the season, I think there’s only three games in total we haven’t scored in.
“You do make your own luck but at the same time you have to be ruthless in both boxes. If you aren’t ruthless at the top end of the pitch and are conceding soft goals it doesn’t bode well, but we don’t deem it [this spell] as a crisis.
“We have plenty of firepower in the squad, it’s about getting support to those guys and spreading the load.
”Tomorrow’s opponents Ballinamallard have just one win in their last five games, but Phillips says Ards will be wary of the threat they pose – especially at Ferney Park.
“We always find it a tough place to go, I simply believe they’re very decent at home and a slightly different team away from home,” he said. “That’s not to take away from them because they are very pleasing on the eye and on their day one of the best footballing sides in the league.
“It is a hard place to go and on a Friday with boys finishing work and so on, but that’s not an excuse. We know what to expect and will be ready to go.”
