Dungannon Swifts star ready to put 'difficult period' behind him and repay faith shown by Rodney McAree

The 29-year-old had spent the past three seasons with Glenavon, making 103 league appearances during that time, but was transfer listed at the conclusion of last term and secured a switch to Stangmore Park in August, linking up with McAree once again after the pair had previously worked together at Warrenpoint Town.

Wallace’s maiden Premiership outing was delayed after he was one of four players involved in a road traffic collision prior to their victory over Ballymena United and wasn’t expecting to start against Glentoran.

However, with Dean Curry’s persistent knee injury flaring up in Thursday’s training session, Wallace was drafted in for the Swifts’ 1-0 weekend success with the ex-Ballymena United centre-back producing a sensational performance to help McAree’s men secure not only a third consecutive league triumph, but also a third straight clean sheet.

Wallace is set for a return to Mourneview Park later this month and while feeling he still had plenty to offer the Lurgan-based club, he’s determined to hit the ground running in new surroundings.

"Towards the end of last season it was frustrating because I wasn't playing every week and I thought I could still play week in, week out,” he reflected. “I was placed on the transfer list and it was a difficult period for myself over pre-season but I kept my head down.

"I felt I could still play for Glenavon and play under the manager, but he didn't believe I could so it was up to myself to get a club and thankfully Rodney came in and I've enjoyed every minute since being here.

"I'm older now...maybe if I was younger (I'd have that mindset of wanting to prove people wrong). I just want to play as many games as possible and show that I can still play at this level. There were a load of Championship teams interested but I felt I could still play in the Premiership."

Having displayed drastic improvements last term in McAree’s first season back, Dungannon have impressed once again at the start of the new campaign by beating Ballymena United, Loughgall and the Glens, while they also picked up an opening day point against Coleraine.

Now with a debut performance under his belt, Wallace feels at home and wants to help the County Tyrone outfit continue to improve.

"It has been really good,” he reflected on his time with Dungannon to date. “Rodney phoned me a couple of weeks ago and a few things had to get sorted out with Glenavon but I'm feeling very welcome and appreciated here which is good.

"You want that when you're a new player at the club and I hope over the next weeks and months I can repay the faith Rodney and Dungannon have shown by bringing me here.

"I missed my debut a couple of weeks ago and knew I'd have to be patient when I signed for the club because they have a good back-four. It doesn't get much better than this...the Glens are one of the top teams, are full-time and will be pushing for the top-three, but I felt we limited them to very few chances and you can't beat winning with a clean sheet on your debut."