Dungannon Swifts players have shown they aren't mentally weak as boss Rodney McAree calls for wins instead of dramatic comebacks

The Swifts produced their second thrilling comeback of the season last Friday as they netted twice in stoppage time with 10-men to secure a 2-2 draw against Coleraine at Stangmore Park.

The other point the County Tyrone side collected was when they left Inver Park with a share of the spoils after battling from 4-1 down to draw 4-4 with champions Larne on the opening weekend of the season.

Carrick, who have recently been taken over by American businessman Michael Smith, battled to an impressive 3-3 draw against Linfield last weekend after losing their previous game 9-0 against Crusaders.

With both teams expected to finish in the bottom six, McAree is fully aware his counterpart in the dugout will also be targeting all three points.

He said: "I think we can take plenty of confidence into tonight's game," he said.

"It's a very tough place to go but we've got to go there with the belief that we can get a result.

"We got to start trying to win games.

"We've still only two points from our first five games so we need to start winning games.

"Maybe that's an opportunity for us to go and win.

"It'll be a game that Stuart King and Carrick will be looking at as a winnable game too but we have to go there with a game plan and try to carry it out to try to get a positive result."

The two Houdini acts so far this season have shown McAree that his players are "mentally strong" to mount impressive comebacks, although the ex-Glentoran chief has called on his squad to not have to be in that scenario in the first place.

"I'd prefer if we weren't having to do comebacks," he laughed.

"I thought we were fantastic against Coleraine.

"I was very disappointed with the two goals we conceded, in the manner of two set pieces.

"If you count additional time, we played 80 minutes with 10 men.

"You have to give the players great credit in terms of their character and their mentality.

"Players at this club have been questioned in the past about their mentality, maybe a little bit mentally weak, but we showed a toughness and good character that we wanted to get back into it.”

McAree was able to call on the services of goalkeeper Niall Morgan last week and he believes the Tyrone GAA star would be one of the best custodians if he elected to play soccer rather than Gaelic football.

"It's difficult for Niall as well because he's playing with a different ball than he normally plays with, it's a different weight," he continued.

"He hasn't had an awful pile of time with us so for him to do as well as he did against Coleraine was brilliant.

"I thought his game understanding and game management was superb too.

"He's potentially probably one of the best goalkeepers in this league if he wanted to apply himself to this code.

"We're just very thankful that we can call on him from time to time."