I have full faith in my squad but January arrivals will be happening, says Ballymena United boss Jim Ervin ahead of Cliftonville showdown

The Sky Blues remain in the relegation zone and have struggled for goals so far this season, failing to find the back of the net in their last six Sports Direct Premiership fixtures.

Ervin takes his players to in-form Cliftonville this afternoon and despite outlining his need to add quality and experience, the summer appointment has full belief that the squad at his disposal can pick up positive results.

"Yes," replied Ervin when he was asked if signings were expected in the January transfer window.

"I'm not going to name names or say too much but there will be boys coming in January.

"I believe what we have at the minute is enough to get us out of the relegation zone.

"Don't get me wrong, I need to add more experience and a bit of quality to help the players who are already here get out of that.

"Granted, we are maybe thin on ice and when you look at our squad, there are a lot of youngsters there.

"Sometimes that inexperience hurts you but we will be looking to add a lot more experience come January."

United dominated large spells of the first-half against Carrick Rangers last Friday night but their lack of ruthlessness was punished at the other end as David Cushley and Danny Purkis netted for the Amber Army in a 2-0 win.

"What I have to do now as a manager is look at players, look for strikers and look for people who are going to be hungry to score goals and sniff out opportunities in and around the box,” he added.

"Look at Carrick’s two goals, the second one I'm not too worried about because we pushed and pushed forward and it was the last kick of the ball.

"But the first one, Curtis (Allen) shows a killer instinct by running for a nothing ball, he ends up getting a penalty out of it and they win the game.

"They saw it out, they were a lot more street-wise and they knew when to kill the game and take the sting out of it.

"Our boys need to wake up and learn very, very quickly.”