Jim Ervin calls for Ballymena United response with clear message 'we can’t keep making the same mistakes'

The Sky Blues missed out on an opportunity to progress into the season’s first showpiece decider following a 4-1 midweek home defeat to the Reds despite taking a lead through Success Edogun. It ended a three-game unbeaten run across competitions for Ballymena, but continued what has been a worrying defensive trend against top-flight opposition. The Co Antrim club have conceded two or more goals in each of their last seven matches against Premiership teams with Ervin insisting his side “can’t keep making the same mistakes”. "I’m looking a response from the players,” he told the club’s media channel. “They’re hurting (after Cliftonville defeat) and have had an honest conversation. "We’re always open and honest. When I feel the praise is deserved and they warrant it, they get it, but I’m not going to criticise them too much because they gave me what they could (on Tuesday). I take responsibility. "It’s up to us to pick a team on Saturday we feel can go and win it. We’re looking for hunger and desire from the group we pick going to Glenavon because it’s going to be a difficult game. "We need to make sure we’re on it and we certainly can’t keep making the same mistakes that we’re making. If we make them on Saturday, we’ll get punished.” Ballymena will take on a Glenavon side that have won just two of 17 league matches to date and sit 10 points adrift at the bottom. Michael O’Connor’s men put up an impressive fight against table-toppers Larne in their most recent outing, taking a first half lead before losing out 2-1 in the closing stages, and are looking to further build on home improvements. The Lurgan Blues have won their last two matches at Mourneview Park, following up a 1-0 triumph over Carrick Rangers in O’Connor’s first match by beating Glentoran 3-1. With three of their next four league matches being played in Lurgan, O’Connor is looking to focus on the positives as his side look to climb clear of their precarious position. “Although Ballymena has struggled to put a good run of results together, they have some very good players,” he told the club’s website. “They will be disappointed to have lost to Cliftonville in midweek so they will want to get back to winning ways quickly. "We can take confidence from our two home wins against Carrick Rangers and Glentoran. But we will need to be at our very best to get the result we are looking for. "I thought that the lads kept their shape very well (against Larne) and worked really hard out of possession. I think we are not far off being a decent side. If we had been a bit more ruthless in both boxes we’d have taken at least a point. “We have worked a bit more this week on what we do when we have the ball. We want to play on the front foot and get men forward. "This is an opportunity to build on the wins against Carrick and Glentoran. There is no reason why we can’t put Ballymena under pressure and create good goalscoring chances.”