FULL POST-MATCH REACTION: The view of Glenavon manager Stephen McDonnell after their 4-0 Premiership victory over Dungannon Swifts

On the match

"It was very good and very efficient with four goals and a clean sheet.

"The only disappointment is to give the penalty away in the manner that we did...it’s no fault of the keeper (Mark Byrne) but we’re in control of the build-up situation and they’ve broken, but I’m delighted we saved it because we want to build on games and clean sheets are a great foundation.

"We’ve had a number of them this season since we’ve taken over and we want to keep going in that direction because we want to be a tough team to beat.

"Overall I’m very pleased.”

On importance of two consecutive clean sheets

"I think we have to look back to our good run in November to when we last had two clean sheets in a row – it has been a wee while coming.

"We’ve came through a tough run of games, but we feel we’re getting closer to the top teams. We’ve came through games in the ascendancy and then results like Tuesday (draw against Glentoran) where you dig in and then a few weeks back we dug in against Linfield.

"That’s what it takes and I feel we’re bridging the gap there ever so slightly to becoming more competitive. I’m very happy with the overall performance.

"I didn’t feel we were at our free-flowing best in the first-half but felt we took over in the second-half, even at 11 v 11. Going down to 10-men it just becomes about getting through the game without real issues and maximising the full bench.

"If I only had one criticism it was that we should have scored more in the moments where we broke, but if you’d have offered me four goals and a clean sheet before the game I’d have said we’d be doing really well with how good Dungannon have been going and the results they’ve got – I’m more than happy.”

On hat-trick hero Lido Lotefa

"The lads that we’ve taken in are probably only getting their second wind now because at this stage – Lido came from Norway and the other lads from the League of Ireland which is only four games old after pre-season – but our lads have had to come into the thick of it and not only that, but played six games against the current top-six.

"We always knew it would take a little bit of time, but for Lido to have a little setback for three weeks after coming off during the Linfield game, to then come back and perform the way he did Tuesday getting us up the pitch and today...they were real attacker’s finishes. It’s very pleasing.

"As they say that’s the monkey off his back with him getting off the mark. To go and score the hat-trick...that’s the first hat-trick since Adam Foley in 2017 I’ve just been told – it’s incredible to think it has been seven years.

"To go home with the match ball – it’s the first time Blacky has had to hand one of those out in a long time he said! Long may it continue. It’s really pleasing for him.”

On if there’s pressure after not winning in eight games

"We’d two cup games and unfortunately we just missed the opportunity in the (BetMcLean Cup) semi-final. Larne is a tough day up there regardless and we were in that game...it was a bit of a capitulation.

"The games we’ve lost have been very respectable. We went to Cliftonville and battered them for 45 minutes, went 1-0 up and we showed that little frailty of conceding soft goals. Losing that game up there it was still respectable and we were still in the game with 10 minutes to go.

"Against Crusaders we hit the post, had two cleared off the line and lost 2-0 – it’s all very nip and tuck. There’s four games in that run we’ve lost, we had two credible draws and against Coleraine we battered them and lost 1-0 in the last minute, so that was disappointing.

"We still feel we’re getting very close to where we want to be. Nobody will ever be 100% happy but more days like today is what we want.”

On how big it would be to finish seventh and get European play-off spot.

"It would be unbelievable. We came in here when we were 11th, off the bottom by one point from Dungannon, so it shows you how far the two teams have come.

"We’ve pulled well clear of the drop zone. To do what we’ve done has been huge, but you have to live in the moment and the now tells us we can compete for something different.

"Yes, at the end of the season we’ll reflect when we came in sitting 11th...I was even looking at our squad from the last game against Dungannon and we had two senior players on the bench with kids.

“You can see what we’re bringing off the bench now so we’ve came a long way and that’s how we gauge it.

"Seventh is in touching distance, sixth is still mathematically within distance and that would require going to Larne and winning, but we think we can do that.

"People might think we’re mad when we throw it out there, but we think we can go there and win. We’ll prepare properly and learn from previous games against them.

"They are the benchmark and it would be brilliant to go and upset the title race wouldn’t it?”