Ballinamallard United boss Harry McConkey left to weigh up good and bad from thrilling draw at Portadown

McConkey was full of admiration for his players’ pursuits towards the hard-earned away draw - but also aware the loss of a lead highlighted a weakness too often evident across the campaign.

“Portadown are clear at the top of the table and the best team in this league,” said McConkey. “But I feel we’ve done very well in the three games with Portadown - if that’s the gauge we are not very far away.

“There’s plenty of football to be played and I’ve plenty of admiration for Matthew Tipton and his players.

“They have carved results out of games despite not playing particularly well - but that’s the sign of champions.

“I would say they have to be clear favourites but we’d like to say we are on their tails and we’ve got to stick in with Portadown.

“We probably have not played with the same intensity against teams since we last played Portadown.

“When facing a massive challenge like Portadown it gives us a focus and we’ve responded really well.

“If we could replicate that intensity between those Portadown fixtures we would feel for sure we could beat most teams.”

It is a belief backed up by statistics - with Ballinamallard having dropped points either side of August’s 1-0 win over Portadown, plus entered Saturday suffering from a loss to Loughgall.

“After that intensity of the first half we said to the players we must not waste all of that good work by losing the game,” said McConkey. “We’ve not lost it but, equally, we were very, very close to winning.

“That’s our first draw this season so a point away from home against the team top of the table would be seen as a good result.

“But, at this moment, it’s the nature of the draw which is a little bit disappointing.

“Once the pain heals from that late goal, I’ve got to be delighted with the response of my players.

“We had a tough game the previous week when we lost with a few minutes to go and had a few of those this season.

“To be 2-0 down and very much on the backfoot at that stage you are thinking it could go to three or four conceded.

“But we showed a lot of resilience, passed the ball well and were very good in the first two-thirds but either sloppy or didn’t have that final pass.

“Then once we got back in at 2-1 then 2-2 our tails were up entering half-time.

“For the equaliser, we got caught between trying to get a high line, got the timing wrong and the run done us, it’s poor defending for someone to be free in the middle of the box.

“But I’ve told them not to be too hard on themselves as, at 2-0, for sure we would have settled for a draw.”