Victory at Carrick was our best win of the season but top-six shout is probably unrealistic, says Dungannon Swifts supremo Rodney McAree

The Swifts climbed up to third in the Premiership standings after a 1-0 win against Carrick Rangers at Taylors Avenue.

In a low-key affair – which was devoid of any real quality due to the conditions – the Swifts left with a priceless three points as James Knowles’ free-kick was parried into the net by Carrick stopper Ross Glendinning.

It marks back-to-back Premiership wins for the Swifts but McAree isn’t getting carried away about a potential top-six place.

He said: "I don't know if top six is realistic. We have a good squad of players and all we want to be is competitive and enjoy what we're doing. I thought we were competitive today and we'll have to be competitive again next week to get something out of it.

"We can't get too carried away, we just have to focus on the next match. We lost three on the bounce if we hadn't won the next then all of a sudden you're struggling to get out of it.

"We have to keep our head above water and give ourselves a bit of hope.

"At this moment in time we've done really well getting the points today takes us above a couple of teams.

"We want to try and stay there for as long as we can. I don't think we'll finish third, but if we can stay there as long as we can we'll hopefully not filter too far back down the table and looking over our shoulders like we have done in previous years.

"It's a difficult league because if we hadn't won and results go against you elsewhere then you're suddenly only seven points off the bottom two.

"So it's important that when we get the opportunity to pick up points we take it."

Dungannon are 14 points better off this campaign than what they were at this time last season.

When asked about the resurgence in results over the last 12 months, McAree replied: "The difference is probably defensively, we haven't conceded as many. We conceded more in those three games we lost than the previous games.

"We had to address that as quickly as possible and thankfully we've kept two clean sheets in a row.

"Last season we had to score two to get a win, it's basic stuff. We had conceded 90 goals two seasons ago and last season there was still an element of that. We had to eliminate that, it's the only way we're going to improve.

"We haven't scored as many as last season but we're not having to either."

McAree conceded that whilst the performance at Taylors Avenue won’t live long in the memory, the manner of the victory meant it was a huge victory in trying conditions.

He remarked: "We always had an idea in our head that we wanted to come here and set up a wee bit differently than we have during the rest of the season and make ourselves harder to beat. Thankfully it worked.

“I think it's probably our best three points of the season in terms of where it's at and how hard we had to work for it.”