MANAGER'S VERDICT: Dungannon Swifts boss Rodney McAree keeping 'realism' despite Premiership progression
Dungannon Swifts propelled themselves back up to fourth and ended their three-game winless Premiership run by defeating Glenavon 2-0 at Stangmore Park on Saturday. Here’s what manager Rodney McAree had to say after the game:
On the result
"It’s a surprise when you here people talking about bumps in the road for Dungannon. We lost three games in a row, but I’ve been at this club when we’ve probably not won in 13.
"It’s not unusual but we wanted to get out of it as quickly as we possibly could. We’ve been conceding too many goals and looked at the defensive side of things massively this week in training, tried to address it and I think it helped us.
"I thought we were very good in the first half. We probably have to be a bit hungrier and show more desire to go and get a second goal. We came in at 1-0 up and the main focus then was a clean sheet.
"I didn’t think we were pretty in the second half but we were effective in how we dealt with anything Glenavon asked of us.”
On reaction and what was said after the three losses
"The mood has never changed. Our training is very good and our focus and attitude in training is very good.
"We had a meeting on Tuesday night to address the goals we’ve conceded. We had a look at them all and were open and transparent. The odd finger was pointed and there were a few arguments off the back of it, but we have to do that.
"It’s not a bad thing. We have to do it if we’re going to improve. It’s alright getting pats on the back but we have to take criticism from time to time and look at where we made mistakes and correct them."
On if clean sheet is most pleasing aspect
"The three points are massive – huge. It’s good to stop the rot in terms of getting beat and the clean sheet is a massive bonus.
"The players deserved that as well. I know Glenavon hit the outside of the post in the second half and we have other opportunities we could have made it a bit easier for ourselves.”
On consistency of first half performances this season
"I said to the coaching staff when we got back into the dugout ‘this will determine where we are in comparison to last season’ because last season we were very good at times in the first half and threw it away in the second half.
"We were leading 1-0 today and very good in the first half and we dug it out and did well to get the three points.”
On John McGovern absence
"His hamstring tightened on Thursday night in training. We thought he might have made it today but we felt if we played him you could take the risk of losing him for six or eight weeks. It’s not serious and hopefully be a week or so.”
On if Dungannon pay any attention to league position after going back to fourth
"The only thing, and this is the honest truth, that I looked at after the match was to see how far we are off the bottom of the table and I know it’s 15 points.
"That’s maybe being negative but there’s a realism with me too. We’re Dungannon Swifts, we probably have the second-lowest budget in the league and we have to keep our feet on the ground and focus on each game.”