Newry City boss Darren Mullen spoke to us after his side lost 2-1 away to Ballinamallard United on Boxing Day.
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00:00Darren, 2-1 defeat. My personal opinion is that you're a bit unlucky losing today. How
00:04do you reflect on the game?
00:05Yeah, I would say so. I'd say I probably would have drawn to win for a result. I thought
00:07both teams had chances in the second half. I thought we were really good in the first
00:10half. Then in the second half, we had chances to go and win, especially when we were driven
00:15across the box and we just didn't take it. We didn't take the chances then. There's always
00:19that opportunity to come back to bite you again. Just both boxes, not putting the ball
00:22away in their box and then not dealing with things when it comes into our own. The ball
00:26seemed like an aid sitting in front of our net for someone to put it in. We didn't deal
00:31with it and paid the price.
00:33You have a lot of players out missing. I know you don't want to keep using that as an excuse
00:36but I think there's six or seven probably starting calibre players you didn't have today.
00:41As the game gets late on, you're in the last 10-15 minutes, are you starting to see that
00:43effect of you're getting tired because you don't have the squad at your disposal?
00:47Yeah, and again, it's not an excuse. I'm saying that now, but that's the reality of it. Georgie
00:52Kerr, Nakder, Shana, we're having to play lads straight away. They're not match fit,
00:57they're not ready to come back and then they're getting injuries because we're having to use
00:59them. We have kids there on the bench who had to pull from the 20s. Only for the 20s
01:04we'd be lost, to be honest, since they've come back. So yeah, we need to get bodies
01:07in so that we're lads back from injury and hopefully some new signings. But in saying
01:13that today, if we'd have scored late on, you'd be coming out and praising the players. It's
01:18not a case of hammering the players. We weren't perfect for the whole game. We didn't deal
01:22with their winner and we paid a heavy price for it.
01:25And now obviously, big implications for your next home game against Armagh. Anytime you
01:29get a defeat, it's always important to come out with a response, isn't it?
01:33It is. Look, it hurts now because of the manner of the defeat and how important it was. But
01:37we have to pick ourselves up. It's no point in me coming in to train on Saturday morning
01:41with a glum face. It's very, very difficult because we're in a tough situation. But we
01:46will get out of it. It's going to take time and it has to turn. I can't keep coming here
01:50saying it's going to turn. It has to turn. It has to change. But it's just having the
01:56right people in to do it, the right quality in to do it. We do need reinforcements in
02:01and we're working hard to get those in. They'll bear fruit in that. Time will tell.
02:06It's a very broad question but how difficult is it to keep positive, keep coming back to
02:10train with smiles on your faces, keep being optimistic at the moment?
02:13I would not recommend managing to anybody because you're just constantly living inside
02:18your head. I look at myself first and foremost. I'm not coming out and blaming the players
02:22here. Could I have done anything better in training? It is tough. But that's the experience
02:29of being here before in terms of relegation battles and promotions. It's very, very difficult.
02:35I have to lift the players. I'm not going in there and shouting and roaring at them
02:37because it's not as if they didn't try today. They tried hard. We just made mistakes. So
02:41to answer your question, it is difficult. But at the same time, by the time Monday night
02:47comes around, we'll be lifted.
02:49And final question then. You've mentioned already several times in the interviews we've
02:52done about getting players in in January. It's obviously a massively important window
02:56for the club. How much activity do you expect in the next couple of weeks?
03:00I'm hoping there's enough to keep what we need. We need to get quality in. It's really
03:07not going to affect the deal with our clubs and they can't bring players in and let players
03:11go until they get players in. So it does have that. But look, we're not sitting on our hands.
03:15So I would like to get four or five in at the minute. Brian Healy is obviously coming
03:19back, which will be a help because we do need reinforcements up top. So yeah, we're working
03:24on it. But until they're signed, then it's signed.