Dungannon Swifts youngster 'a credit to himself' after playing key role in Cliftonville victory

After regular number one Declan Dunne was sent off in Saturday’s defeat to Ballymena United, 20-year-old Henderson was called upon and then marked just his third top-tier start in Wednesday’s triumph at Solitude which was sealed by goals from James Knowles and John McGovern.

Having spent the latter part of last term on loan at Dungannon, Henderson made a permanent switch to Stangmore Park from Glentoran ahead of this season and could now have played an important part in creating Swifts history.

The win leaves Dungannon sitting fourth on 49 points with two matches left to play before the split, currently holding an advantage of five points over seventh-placed Coleraine, who have three games left, as Rodney McAree’s men chase the club’s first top-half finish in 15 years.

"Alex was super and stood up to it really well,” Harpur told the club’s media channel. “He came for crosses, his kicking was good and he was talking too.

"I thought he was super and he's a credit to himself.

"It's a great win. We knew how difficult it would be coming here - it's always a really difficult place to come.

"I thought after the first 25 minutes we settled into the game really well and the second half we did really well to score two good goals."

Knowles curled home a pinpoint free-kick from the edge of Cliftonville’s box before McGovern rose highest to head in his tenth Premiership goal of the season and 16th across all competitions.

"Knowlesy has that in the locker,” added Harpur. “After training the boys will hit free-kicks and Knowlesy consistently puts them into the top corner.

"I was delighted to see him score...Knowlesy has been fantastic for us in recent weeks and been instrumental in some of the recent results.

"John has been super. He's unbelievable. The joke is that if he took all his chances he'd probably have 30 goals by now!

"He's unbelievable and it's really good from John."