Stephen McDonnell believes salvaging late point against Linfield shows Glenavon are moving in the right direction

Aaron Prendergast’s 96th minute strike meant the Lurgan Blues salvaged a 2-2 draw in what was an impressive display against title-chasing Linfield, who led on two different occasions through Stephen Fallon and then Darragh McBrien’s late header.

McDonnell has enjoyed great success since taking over in September, but has also had to bounce back from adversity, including last weekend’s 5-0 Irish Cup thumping at the hands of Larne.

The ex-Warrenpoint Town boss admits he’s delighted with the standard of performance and feels collecting an important point as they chase a top-half finish proves things are progressing nicely.

"When you look at games for the second time, we were the top team for 37 minutes against Larne and had a couple of lapses and individual errors, which is the stuff we need to cut out,” he said. “I know how we do things around here and I'm in full control of that.

"I always felt with a relatively new bunch of players and with the feeling we're restarting again that the penny was going to drop and that performance last week told me we're moving in the right direction.

"Even the week before we went to Coleraine and battered them. We're going where we want to go. That performance (against Linfield) was two-sided...we were dominant in the first-half and in the second we've had to dig in. We always felt that we would pose a lot of problems today and we did.

"We're really pleased with the direction we're going in. We said from day one that if performances can be there then results will follow and from a mindset point of view it's a big one today for the players to know that they can compete with a full-time team and give it to them at times. We move forward now and look forward to what's ahead."

McDonnell made eight signings in the January transfer window and most of them played their part on Saturday with James Doona netting his first Premiership goal to cancel out Fallon’s early opener while David Toure, Len O’Sullivan, Darren Clarke, Lido Lotefa and goalkeeper Gareth Deane all started.

Young striker Gavin Hodgins also came on at half-time to replace the injured Lotefa (groin issue) and McDonnell is determined to build a squad that the faithful Glenavon supporters can be proud of.

"You look at the two full-backs today aged 19 and 20 (O’Sullivan and Toure)...they are fabulous athletes but also quality,” he added. "I thought James was electric at times.

"He's got that lovely little shimmy and he's a proper traditional winger that can go either side. It's great for James...he scored in the cup last month too and I'm pleased for him.

“We're working on rebuilding the football club and we want to build a team that are proud of themselves and the fanbase are proud of. We want them to be proud of what they see and I think we're slowly moving in that direction."