Dungannon Swifts left Stangmore Park disappointed as they fell to a 3-1 defeat against Cliftonville on a very wet and windy Saturday afternoon.
Rodney McAree’s starting line-up sawthree changes from Tuesdays 2-1 win in the League Cup over Bangor. John Scott, Andrew Mitchell and Jamie Glackin were replaced by Danny Wallace, Junior and Tiernan Kelly.
Importantly, Cliftonville captain Rory Hale won the coin toss before the game and opted to play with the gale force wind and switch ends for the first half.
The early period of the game lacked clear-cut chance. Cliftonville had a couple of corners and saw a shot from Liam McStravick go just past the post and a saved shot from Ben Quinn, while the Swifts forced Morrison in the Cliftonville goal into a save from a Kealan Dillon free kick and the same player had a shot from distance that went wide.
Cliftonville broke the deadlock on twenty six minutes. Aaron Wightman crossed into the box and Brian Healy managed to get in front of Barney McKeown to tap into the goal and give the Reds a one goal lead.
Just two minutes later, the Reds doubled their advantage. They worked their way from a throw in until Ben Quinn crossed into the box. The ball went over everyone and reached McStravick, who set up Rory Hale to strike into the net and make the score 2-0.
Both teams tried without success to score before the break. The Swifts had a cross from Kealan Dillon which went over the bar and Cliftonville also had a cross which was well headed out by Danny Wallace.
The visitors staretd the second half more lively, creating a number of half chances, including a cross which was just cleared by Steven Scott.
The Swifts, with a less powerful wind behind them in the second half, bolstered their attacking options with a quadruple change at the hour mark in hopes of getting back into the game. It seemed to be quickly effective as Sean McAllister came close to converting in the 65th minute, before scoring five minutes later.
Substitute Corey Smith made a cross-field pass to Shea Gordon in the box and he laid the ball off to McAllister who converted to narrow the Cliftonville lead and bring Dungannon Swifts back into the game.
With the momentum in their favour, the Swifts created a good chance to level the game just minutes later. Jame Glackin played to fellow substitute Andrew Mitchell who made a one touch flick to Adam Glenny, but his shot at the near post was strongly stopped by PJ Morrison.
However, against the run of play, Cliftonville extended their lead through Healy. McStravick received the ball in the middle of the half, turned, and played Healy through. His shot was perfectly placed into the bottom corner for his second and Cliftonville’s third of the game.
The Cliftonville defence remained resolute to stop the Swifts from creating any meaningful chances for the remainder of the game and win by three goals to one.
Post-match, Rodney McAree said: “I thought we started the game quite well. I thought, bar the first mistake that we made that leads to an opportunity where Liam McStravick hits outside the post right in the first minute, I thought after that, up until the 25th, 26th minute, I thought we’d done well, then a ball comes in the box, we allow the ball to come into our box too easily. We don’t defend the near post space well enough, and we allowed Brian Healy to get between us and he pokes it into the back of the net and you find yourself 1-0 down and the elements were tough today, the conditions were tough, that’s maybe making excuses and we’ve got to do better.Then, in the space of two and a half minutes, we put ourselves under pressure. We put ourselves right under pressure right from the kick off, whereas in my opinion, we should have been playing in the opposition’s half, get the ball up the pitch, take a little bit of pressure off us, see out the next five minutes, but we put ourselves under pressure and conceded a second. That’s the most frustrating thing because you give yourself a mountain to climb.
“I thought the second half didn’t start overly well but we made four substitutions. I thought the substitutions who came on maybe put a little bit of a spark into us going forward and we get ourselves back in the game through Sean McAllister and you think you have a real good opportunity and you kick yourself in the foot because we don’t show the hunger the desire to stop Cliftonville playing out of a tight area in their back four, and we allow them up the pitch and concede a third and you find yourself 3-1 down. It’s just disappointing. Everything I do, everything I’ll try to do and the staff will try to do will be for Dungannon Swifts Football Club and emotionally it hurts, and we have to make sure that the changing room hurt a little bit more emotionally and also hurt a little bit more physically because at this moment in time, I don’t believe we’re maybe getting as much as what we should and that that comes through results as well. I understand that, but we just need to we just need to be doing more collectively across the board at this moment in time.”
Up next for the Swifts is a trip to Windsor Park to face an in-form Linfield side next Saturday.
Dungannon Swifts: Dunne (GK), McKeown, Kelly, S. Scott (Glackin 59’), Dillon (Mitchell 59’), Glenny, Gordon, Doyle (C) (Alves 59’), Wallace, Junior (Smith 59’), McAllister.
Unused Substitutes: Henderson, McGinty, J. Scott.
Cliftonville: Morrison (GK), Wightman, Samuels (Conlan 76’), Wilson (Thompson 76’), Hale (C), (McMaster 76’), Healy, Leppard, Quinn, Bannon, McStravick (Murray 80’), Sheridan.
Unused Substitutes: Cremen-Crowe (GK), McClelland.
Referee: Christopher Morrison
