It was a terrible afternoon at Stangmore Park as the Swifts were defeated 2-0 by Carrick Rangers.
Coming into the match, Rodney McAree made three changes to the squad that lined out on Tuesday night against Coleraine, bringing back Declan Dunne and Leo Alves, who are just back from suspension, and also bringing in Brandon Bermingham who impressed after coming off the bench during the week. These three players replace Alex Henderson, James Knowles, and Thomas Maguire respectively.
The game started very brightly for the home side, creating a great chance just four minutes in when a Swifts free kick was whipped in by Leo Alves, and then was headed out by the away side, only to find Sean McAllister on the edge of the area, who volleyed just over the bar.
The Swifts had a number of chances in the next fifteen minutes, including a Tomás Galvin shot which went just over the upright, a header from the same man which tested Gartside in the Carrick Rangers net, and also a Brandon Bermingham free which was excellently caught by Nathan Gartside.
Disaster struck on twenty one minutes when out of absolutely nowhere, a cross was whipped in on the left side of the pitch, and with their first attempt on goal, Adam Lecky headed into the net to make it 1-0 to the away side.
Lightening struck twice just four minutes later when with their second attempt on goal, Adam Lecky made it 2-0 to Carrick Rangers with an almost identical goal to his first, with a cross finding his head, and him heading it into the net for the second time in four minutes.
For the remainder of the first period, there were half chances at both ends, including a Carrick free kick, which found Danny Gibson, who put the ball wide, and also a Brandon Bermingham shot which was saved well by Gartside between the sticks.
The last chance of the half fell to the home side, when Sean McAllister did well and passed it to Brandon Bermingham, who just couldn’t get the touch he wanted, and headed over the bar, leaving the score at 2-0 going into the interval.
It was the away side who undoubtedly started the second half as the stronger of the two sides, with Adam Lecky coming inches away from making it 3-0 to Carrick, and his hat trick. They then created another chance just minutes later, and also earned themselves two corners in the first five minutes of the second period.
The Swifts created their first opportunity of the half fifteen minutes in, when a Sean McAllister free kick dipped over the Carrick wall and into the hands of the goalkeeper.
The home side created a great chance to get one back when a James Knowles free kick found Adam Glenny, whose shot was superbly saved by Nathan Gartside.
However, the best chance of the half came just two minutes later, when a Carrick cross found an open Paul Heatley just outside the six yard box, whose shot was saved sensationally by Declan Dunne.
The home side were once again close to pulling a goal back when a wonderful Kealan Dillon ball found Tomás Galvin, who flicked the ball on to Andrew Mitchell, who was inches away from connecting with the ball, and it drifted out of play.
This would turn out to be the last chance of the afternoon, with the Swifts suffering their fourth defeat of this seasons league campaign to a still unbeaten Carrick Rangers.
Post-match, manager Rodney McAree described his thoughts on the game, saying, “First twenty minutes I thought we were very good, we could have been one, two nil up. We don’t take our chances. First time Carrick go up the pitch, they put the ball into the box, it looks as if we are going to concede, they score with the first two crosses that they put into the box, they show a bigger desire and a bigger hunger to score than we do to keep it out, and they also show more hunger that they want to win the game, more than us than what we showed in the opposite end of the pitch as well.”
“I think you would be a fool if you thought that was acceptable, and I think that the players have to understand that it wasn’t acceptable, and the club shouldn’t accept from the staff and the players today what was presented to them today,” he said.
Without any points on the board to date, there may be some panic around the ground, but manager Rodney McAree said the following about whether he is panicked at this early stage:
“Not really, no. But, you’re sitting at the bottom of the table and haven’t scored a goal from open play. We’ve conceded too many goals, and you look on the flip side of that, we lose Dean Curry last year, we lose John McGovern, are they that important, where they that important, I’m not sure. Dean Curry probably wasn’t one of the better or most gifted footballers that you’ve ever come across, but he was a warrior, he was a leader, he wanted to defend, he didn’t want to concede cheap goals. John McGovern wanted to ask the opposition defences questions, he wanted to play in the right areas, he wanted to get into the right areas, so they’ve maybe been two big losses, but I believe that they should be as big a loss as they’ve shown so far,” said Rodney.
Dungannon Swifts: Dunne, S. Scott, Bermingham (T. Maguire 61’), Galvin, Alves (Knowles 68’), Glenny, McGinty (C), Smith (Dillon 68’), McAleese (Marron 75’), Wallace, McAllister (Mitchell 61’).
Unused Substitutes: Henderson, P. Maguire.
Carrick Rangers: Gartside, Callacher, Gibson, Lecky, McCullough (C), Steele, Crowe, Heatley, Snoddy, McKay, Scott.
Unused Substitutes: Pengelly, Burns, Waide, Maciulaitis, Buchanan-Rolleston, Boyd, Cherry.
Up next for the Swifts is a trip to Bangor to face the Seasiders in Clandeboye Park next Saturday afternoon. Up the Swifts!