Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree hopes improved results can help give his team confidence as they look to “take better control” of matches following their 2-1 Premiership win over nine-man Cliftonville.

The reigning Irish Cup champions picked up a first home victory of the campaign as Junior netted from the penalty spot after Rory Hale was sent off for handling Tomas Galvin’s shot on the line before Caolan Marron’s header extended their advantage 14 minutes later.

Jim Magilton’s men gave themselves a lifeline when Joe Gormley struck after the break, but they were further reduced on the player front in the closing stages when Jonny Addis collected a second yellow card.

"I thought we started the game very well, done well in the first half,” McAree told the club’s media channel. “Cliftonville go down to 10 men and were a credit to themselves.

placeholder image — Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree. (Photo by David Maginnis/Pacemaker Press)

"They worked hard, still played good football at times when they were allowed to and asked us questions. Coming in at half-time I thought it was a good opportunity for us to regroup and set our stall in the second half.

"We looked like a team in the second half that had only got three points from our first seven games. We looked nervous, as if we were panicky, and that’s understandable when the players have had the start to the season they’ve had.

"I asked them at the start of the game for a hardworking, honest performance and I think we got that. We can do without the jitters and panicking, and that probably comes through results as well, so maybe if the results improve then we can take better control.”

Saturday’s strike marked Junior’s first league goal since joining Dungannon during the recent transfer window and McAree had full faith in the former Glentoran star when he stepped up to the spot.

"Junior’s a confident boy, I’ve seen him taking penalties before, and I was confident when he had the ball in his hand that it was going to hit the back of net,” he added. “It gets us off to a good start.

"The second comes from us being careless on the ball but we end up getting a free-kick and Kealan Dillon’s delivery was very good and Caolan Marron’s header was exceptional.

"I’m delighted for Caolan, it was nice to see him weigh in with a goal and one of our centre-halves score too. It gave us a cushion.

"I’m disappointed with the goal we conceded, I think we need to do better with it. We need to stop the shot and from Decky’s point of view he will admit he has to do better with the shot as well.”

McAree was forced into a change before half-time when captain Gael Bigirimana, who had been booked after only six minutes, was replaced by Mal Smith.

"Bigi got booked early on and then he puts himself under a bit of pressure,” he said. “There’s a tackle he makes which is never a yellow card, but it makes you think if you leave him on the pitch too long then you find yourself level with 10-men each.

"It was tactical and make sure we can keep 11 players on the pitch...we took Tomas Galvin off at half-time for the same reason.”