Andrew Mitchell hoping to hit similar heights to first Dungannon Swifts spell seven years later

​In his first game back, the 29-year-old needed only five minutes to open his account in a second spell at Stangmore Park, scoring the opener as the County Tyrone outfit defeated Willowbank 5-0 in the Irish Cup fifth round last weekend.

Mitchell, who topped the Premiership goal charts in his last season with the Swifts (2016/17), will likely have a key role to play as Rodney McAree’s men make the trip to Ballymena United today in what is a crucial fixture.

Only three points separate 10th-placed Dungannon and the Sky Blues, sitting one spot lower, with both entering on the back of league victories.

The Swifts have scored 39 goals in 24 league matches, 24 more than Ballymena and also betters returns from all four teams sitting directly above them, and Mitchell adds yet further firepower.

"Hopefully people can see that that person who was here seven years ago can still score goals, even though I'm turning 30 this month,” he said. “I'm just happy to be starting games now where I probably wasn't starting enough and that's probably one of the reasons why I need to move.

"I got myself to a point after coming back from a long injury last year where I wasn't content to sit on the bench and play for 10 or 15 minutes.

"My qualities are far more than 10 or 15 minutes off the bench and I'm just delighted that I was given the chance today and hopefully that will continue.”

Dungannon finished last weekend’s match with four teenagers on the pitch, including 17-year-old Aidan Hegarty and 18-year-old Kenny Ximenes, and ex-Glentoran striker Mitchell praised the next generation coming through.

"I definitely enjoyed my time at Coleraine,” he added. “Unfortunately, injury came within three or four months of getting there.

“Then I had an injection and it didn't work, then I had a bit of illness with a blood clot and different things, and those are things that you can't really control.

“I worked ever so hard to get back and I just wanted to prove to people that through hard work you can get back and achieve things and hopefully I did that.

"I'd obviously loved to have played more but obviously things didn't work out that way but that's football and you just have to move on.

“Hopefully, here, I'll get more minutes. The quality here, especially among the young players, is fantastic.

"We finished with a 17-year-old, an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old playing up front and that's credit to Dungannon United Youth and coming through the Swifts. I think the future's bright here.”