'Fantastic' Dungannon Swifts star seizes chance on first Premiership start in over two years

With regular left-back Adam Glenny missing through injury, Scott was drafted in and helped McAree’s men record a second consecutive win and clean sheet at the start of the new Irish League season.

The 25-year-old spent last term on loan in the Championship with Loughgall, playing 27 league matches for Darren Murphy’s side, and has now returned to Stangmore Park eager to make an impact.

Scott had missed out on selection for Dungannon’s previous win at Portadown, but registered 90 minutes for his hometown club for the first time in two-and-a-half years at the weekend, and McAree was delighted to see the defender seize an opportunity.

"Adam was injured,” said McAree. “Whatever way he landed on his foot on Thursday night in training...Adam being Adam carried on, trained, and thought he was going to be alright.

"Whenever I see a phone call on a Friday morning and it comes up on my screen that it’s Adam Glenny, I sort of know that there's a problem.

"He doesn't miss very much. He's played with niggles and aches and pains before, so hopefully it's not too bad.

"We haven't got the assessment as yet, but I see him walking around in the boot – that can be sometimes just precaution to take a bit of weight off it.

“John phoned me on Wednesday and was a wee bit disappointed that he was left out of the squad last weekend.

"He wanted to know what he could do better. I told him, ‘you just have to bide your time, wait for your opportunity’, and he got it – he did ever so well.

"He went on loan last season to Loughgall to get game time, which has obviously stood to him.

"John's a fit boy, a strong boy, he's good in the air, he's athletic. He's probably a different full-back than Adam Glenny, but that'll do him no harm today.

"In terms of coming in and replacing Adam Glenny, that’s not easy either, there's a wee bit of pressure that comes with that too.

"Him coming in and giving the performance that he did was fantastic.”

Scott is the older brother of fellow Swifts star Steven, who has been out of action since March through injury.

The 21-year-old has been one of Dungannon’s top performers throughout a golden period of success in recent years and McAree is hoping he’ll be back involved in the coming weeks.

"Steven has another three-and-a-half weeks, maybe four, four-and-a-half weeks until he can play,” he added. “We think he'll be back involved in terms of training and stuff in the next couple of weeks, then it's a case of building him up from that.”

Summer signing Kris Lowe limped off in the first half of Saturday’s victory, but McAree hopes the issue isn’t serious.

"He just felt a tightness in his hamstring, so it was a case of taking him off,” he said. "He's had problems with hamstrings and calves over the last few years, so whenever he felt that initial tightness, we thought the best thing to do is take him off.

"Hopefully it’s not too bad – if it's two weeks, that'll be hopefully the height of it.”