Rodney McAree taking 'massive positives' despite disappointment of late Larne defeat
Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree was left disappointed after he felt his side were wrongfully denied a penalty in the closing stages of their 2-1 Premiership defeat to table-toppers Larne – but insists there were still “massive positives” to take forward.
The Swifts fell behind after 34 minutes when Mark Randall executed a free-kick with pinpoint accuracy, but McAree’s men responded in style as Steven Scott blasted home his maiden Premiership goal from long-range.
Just when it looked like both teams would have to settle for a point at Stangmore Park, there was late drama when Matty Lusty was taken down by Declan Dunne while trying to round the Dungannon goalkeeper.
Substitute Paul O’Neill showed composure to slot home an injury time spot-kick and extend Larne’s unbeaten league run to seven matches.
Five minutes before the winner, Dungannon had a penalty appeal of their own turned down when they felt Matt Ridley handled inside his own box while trying to clear a dangerous delivery.
"I’m disappointed because there's an incident just before, or about five minutes before, when the ball goes into their box, and I get the rules...if it comes off a head on to the hand, potentially it's not a penalty kick, but I think Matt Ridley has lost all control of his body,” said McAree. "I don't think Matt Ridley knows where the ball is, I don't think he knows where he is, and he's lost all balance.
"He's went down and he's been very fortunate it has hit him in the head before it has got to his hand. So from that point of view, I think he's got away with it.
"Some decisions you'll get, some you'll not, but I thought that was a penalty. I'll just be honest with you, I thought it was a penalty kick. Their penalty kick was a certain penalty kick.
"We rode our luck a little bit in the first half, Larne had a few more opportunities than what we did.”
Across the last 10 league matches played by each top-flight team, only Larne (25) have collected more points than Dungannon (21) – reigning champions Linfield have also amassed 21.
The Swifts, who created a piece of club history last term by securing a joint-best finish of fourth, are once again sitting inside the Premiership’s top-half and McAree wants to continue building.
"I think there's massive positives from our point of view that you're coming out of a game against Larne, who are sitting at the top of the table and have two games in hand, and we're very disappointed we don't take anything from the game,” he added. "I don't know whether we deserve to win it or not, but I don't think we deserve to lose it.
"I thought we'd done well in the second half. We forced a great save out of Rohan Ferguson late on in the game and we actually looked as if we could have went and nicked it.
"But we give two bad goals away on the day, two goals that are preventable. We can deal better with them. Unfortunately, we've paid the price for those.”