'We'll keep our eyes peeled' - Ballymena United boss Jim Ervin provides transfer window update ahead of new Irish League season

Having avoided the dreaded Championship drop after beating Institute in their promotion/relegation play-off, Ervin has significantly strengthened with former Northern Ireland internationals Josh Carson and Danny Lafferty arriving at the Showgrounds alongside Aaron Jarvis, Stephen O’Donnell, Caolan Loughran, Joe Moore and Jack O’Mahony.

The Sky Blues continued preparations for the upcoming Premiership campaign, which starts with a home clash against Linfield on August 10, by drawing 1-1 with Bangor on Saturday – Mickey Place’s first-half penalty was cancelled out by a late Tom Mathieson strike.

With just under three weeks until that Blues showdown, Ervin admits he’s interested in adding at least one more player to his squad, but insists it has to be the right profile which helps improve Ballymena.

"We'll always look to add to the squad if a player becomes available that's of interest to us,” he told the club’s media channel. “I still do think we're maybe one or two players short and we will be on the lookout, but as I said last season and this, they have to be the right fit for what we're looking for.

"We aren't just going to go out and dive on the first player – we have to make sure they'll come in, integrate into the squad and be the right fit for Ballymena United. We'll keep our eyes peeled and hopefully we can add one or two more before the start of the season."

Throughout last season’s Premiership campaign, Ballymena had the joint-lowest average squad age (24.8) alongside Dungannon Swifts with 20-year-old Noah Stewart shining by scoring nine times while 21-year-old Fraser Taylor impressed during his loan spell from St Mirren and 22-year-old Calvin McCurry netted the decisive goal which secured the club’s top-flight status.

One of Ervin’s main priorities in this window was to add experience, which he has done in abundance with the arrivals of Carson, Lafferty, Jarvis, O’Donnell and Loughran, and feels those additions can help bring the youngsters to another level.

"We were very young last year,” he added. “We've added quite a lot of experience with Josh Carson, Aaron Jarvis, Stevie O'Donnell and Danny Lafferty which will help the young boys progress to the next step of their career.

"Pre-season is all about giving people opportunities and it's about the squad. Last year I felt we had a solid 12 or 13 players and after that we were very young and inexperienced.

"We've tried to add experience, youth and different pieces we felt were missing, but it's about having a squad ready for the campaign because it's a long campaign and when you get injuries and suspensions, it would be nice to look around and have that experience to come on and do different things in games, rather than it just being kids.

"That's nothing on the young boys we have around the group - we set a standard last year and it's up to them to maintain it when we add quality in. They'll benefit from playing in the friendlies."