The Swifts suffered their fifth league defeat of the season at the hands of newly-promoted Bangor in a game which was played in dreadful conditions in Clandeboye Park.
Rodney McAree strengthened his squad this week with the signing of Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe, but the striker was unable to make his debut against the Seasiders.
On the new addition, the manager said: “Junior is one I believe can come in and help us, he’s a good centre forward, he wants to play in the eighteen yard box, he’s somebody I enjoyed working with before.”
Rodney made four changes to the side which was defeated 2-0 in Stangmore Park last Saturday by Carrick Rangers.
Brandon Bermingham, Leo Alves, Mal Smith, and Bobby-Jack McAleese were replaced by Caolan Marron, Tiernan Kelly, Kealan Dillon, and Andrew Mitchell.
The first chance of the game fell to the away side. After a slow start from both teams, a Kealan Dillon corner from the right hand side of the artificial surface was whipped in, headed out by a yellow and white shirt, only to find Tiernan Kelly – who was making his first league start for the Swifts – and his attempt drifted past the right post of Gareth Deane’s goal, which would be one of many corners for the away side in the first twenty minutes of the contest.
Bangor would get their first chance of the game on twenty four minutes when a Recce Neale cross found the head of star striker Ben Arthurs, but the ball was stopped by the Swifts goalkeeper Dunne.
Eleven minutes later, the Swifts were celebrating. A cross from the left hand side of the pitch found the rising Andrew Mitchell, whose header was too strong for Bangor goalkeeper as he palmed the ball into the goal to break the deadlock and give the away side their first goal from open play in the league this season.
However, the celebrations were quickly halted when Tiernan Mulvenna played the ball through to Ben Arthurs, whose shot found the top corner of Declan Dunne’s goal.
This would turn out to be the final chance of a half played in extremely bad conditions and finishing all-square.
The first big chance of the second period fell to the Swifts. Four minutes in, Tomás Galvin did very well to beat his man on the left side of the pitch, and whip the ball into the Bangor box, having Swifts fans holding their breath. However, goalkeeper Deane did very well to grab hold of the cross before any of the men in blue could connect with the ball.
An hour in, disaster struck for the away side when Recce Neale delivered a corner into the area, which was thought to have found the head of Mark Haughey, but the final touch came off Steven Scott, making it 2-1 to home side, turning around the game.
There was controversy ten minutes from time when a Kealan Dillon corner flew directly into the goal, only for the celebrations to be cut short as the referee deemed the Bangor goalkeeper to be fouled, meaning it remained 2-1 to the home side.
Despite bringing on fresh legs off the bench, the Swifts couldn’t get an opportunity to level the game and it ended 2-1 to the Seasiders, keeping the away side on no points and at the bottom of the league five games in.
Post-match, Rodney gave his thoughts on the disallowed goal: “I saw an absolutely wonderful ball being put into the box by Kealan Dillon, and it was going into the far corner of the net, and I saw Gareth Deane back tracking trying to keep it out of his net, and he falls into the corner where the ball falls into.
“Unfortunately, the referee has judged it as being an infringement, and that unfortunately has went against us. Listen, it’s not an easy job, the referees don’t have an easy job, they have to make their own mind up, they have to make the own decision, but in this occasion that has definitely gone against us in my opinion.
“It would have given us a little bit of momentum in the closing stages we maybe could have had the belief that we could have gone and nicked it. But certainly leaving here today in the conditions that there were, if we had left here with a point, it would have been a positive result, especially after the first four defeats. We want to try and get our season up and running and if that’s an ugly 2-2 draw away to Bangor, it would have been a start, but we have to take it on the chin, it hasn’t happened, we can’t change anything now, and we have to focus on the next,” he said.
Regarding the slow start, Rodney said: “I just feel as if we’re lacking a bit of confidence, we’re lacking a bit of belief, but our second half performance today, in my opinion was better than the first half. We played with the wind in the first half and it was too much kick and run after it. Second half I thought we used the ball a little bit better and we played a little bit better, we played a wee bit more like ourself.
“For us to turn this around, we have to believe in what we did last season, we have to believe in what we’re trying to do this season, which is the exact same thing, there will be little tweaks along the way, there will be new faces, there will probably be ones moving on, but we have to believe in the process, and try and get us going.”
Bangor: Deane (GK), McGuinness, Neale (C), Haughey, Hassin, Mulvenna (Devlin 57’), Arthurs, Cushnie (Garrett 84’), O’Mahony, Lynch, Morgan (Osew 69’).
Unused Substitutes: Owens (GK), McArthur, Burns, McMahon.
Dungannon Swifts: Dunne (GK), S. Scott, Marron, Kelly (Knowles 88’), Galvin (Alves 65’), Dillon (McAleese 88’), Glenny, McGinty (C) (T. Maguire 65’), Wallace, Mitchell, McAllister.
Unused Substitutes: Henderson (GK), P. Maguire, Smith.
Up next for the Swifts is the start of the Mid-Ulster Cup defence against St. Mary’s YC at Stangmore Park on Tuesday night with a 19:45 kick off. Up the Swifts!
