It was a third defeat of the season for the away side in yellow as they went down 2-0 to an impressive Coleraine.
The Swifts came into the match after a disappointing 4-1 loss to Mid-Ulster rivals Portadown, hoping to get their first points on the board on a fine evening on the north coast.
An hour before kick off, Rodney McAree revealed a side with several changes to the one that lined out on Saturday, being forced to take out Gaël Bigirimana and Leo Alves due to suspensions, and also replacing Andrew Mitchell, Kealan Dillon and Caolan Marron, and bringing in Thomas Maguire, James Knowles, Mal Smith and Bobby-Jack McAleese.
The Swifts started the better of the two sides, passing it around Coleraine, and had a close chance fifteen minutes in. Tomás Galvin picked up a loose ball in the middle of the Coleraine half, ran to around five yards outside the area, before releasing his shot, which went just past the post.
Ten minutes later, Coleraine had grown into the game, and created three chances in three minutes. The first was a Kodi-Lyons Foster header from a free kick, which went just past the upright; the next a William Patching shot from twenty five yards out, which the Swifts goalkeeper, Alex Henderson, saved well. Unfortunately, it was third time lucky for the home side when a short corner went to Patching, who whipped the ball in toward an open McManus, and he headed into the far corner to make it 1-0 to Coleraine. There were shouts for offside against the Coleraine striker, but the goal stood.
Coleraine earned another corner a short while later, and Joel Copper decided against the short routine that worked last time around. Last season’s player of the year fired the ball in, which Danny Wallace headed out, only to find Jamie Glackin, whose overhead kick into the net made it 2-0 to the home side.
This would be the last major action of the half, with the Swifts having an uphill task to get back into the game.
Coleraine would have a couple of half chances at the beginning of the second period, but the biggest chance came on fifty five minutes, when a ball over the top found Thomas Maguire and the Coleraine goalkeeper made a great save to keep the game at 2-0.
After this, the Swifts grew into the game, holding onto the ball and creating more chances, one coming from substitute Brandon Bermingham, who shot at the Coleraine goalkeeper, Harris.
The same man would get another chance five minutes later when Kodi Lyons Foster’s rash challenge on Thomas Maguire saw Bermingham’s shot from the resulting free go inches over the bar.
Coleraine would also threaten with shots from Cooper and Patching, but Henderson kept his goal intact in the second half.
The last involvement came in added minutes when a Kealan Dillon shot from outside the box went wide of the post. After this, the referee blew his whistle, and despite an improved performance against strong opposition, the Swifts were defeated once more.
Post-match, assistant manager, Dixie, described his thoughts on the game, saying, “I thought we started the game quite brightly, and were well in the game, and we probably switched off at a couple of set plays which was disappointing. We regrouped at half time, and I thought our second half performance was very good, we were competitive throughout the whole second half, but we needed to get that goal to get us back in contention to get us something out of the game, but Coleraine is a good side, and all in all, probably pleased with the overall performance, but disappointed in the manner of which we conceded both goals.”
Coleraine: Harris, Kane (C), Lyons-Foster, Dunne, Jarvis (Ives 67’), Boyle, Doherty (McGregor 67’), Cooper, Patching, Glackin (McGonigle 79’), McManus (Shevlin 72’).
Unused Substitutes: Evans, Long, Stewart.
Dungannon Swifts: Henderson, S. Scott, Knowles (Dillon 70’), Galvin, Glenny (J. Scott 83’), McGinty (C), T. Maguire (P. Maguire 83’), Smith, McAleese (Mitchell 78’), Wallace, McAllister (Bermingham 70’).
Unused Substitutes: Glass, Marron.
Up next for the Swifts is a return to Stangmore Park on Saturday afternoon to face Carrick Rangers. Up the Swifts!