MANAGER'S VERDICT: Rodney McAree admits Dungannon Swifts' victory at Carrick Rangers wasn't a classic as James Knowles' free-kick is the difference

Here’s what he had to say after the 1-0 victory at Taylors Avenue.

THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:

"With all due respect I don't think I’ve ever come here and witnessed a great game of football as such, and probably the overnight rain didn't help either.

"We always had an idea in our head that we wanted to come here and set up a wee bit differently than we have during the rest of the season and make ourselves harder to beat. Thankfully it worked.

"I always thought one goal would win it. We got fortunate with the goal. Decky (Dunne) nearly did the same thing down our end thankfully we got a bit of luck today.

"I think it's probably our best three points of the season in terms of where it's at and how hard we had to work for it.

IMPRESSIVE LEAGUE POSITION:

"At this moment in time we've done really well getting the points today takes us above a couple of teams.

"We want to try and stay there for as long as we can. I don't think we'll finish third, but if we can stay there as long as we can we'll hopefully not filter too far back down the table and looking over our shoulders like we have done in previous years.

"It's a difficult league because if we hadn't won and results go against you elsewhere then you're suddenly only seven points off the bottom two.

"So it's important that when we get the opportunity to pick up points we take it.

TOP SIX A POSSIBILITY?

"I don't know if top six is realistic. We have a good squad of players and all we want to be is competitive and enjoy what we're doing. I thought we were competitive today and we'll have to be competitive again next week to get something out of it.

"We can't get too carried away, we just have to focus on the next match. We lost three on the bounce if we hadn't won the next then all of a sudden you're struggling to get out of it.

"We have to keep our head above water and give ourselves a bit of hope.