Dungannon Swifts boss Rodney McAree is hoping his side’s new “resistance” will continue on Friday night as they look to grab all three points in the Mid-Ulster derby with Portadown at Shamrock Park.
After a cruel opening three fixtures against three of last year’s top-six sides, from which McAree’s men collected a solitary point, the Swifts have been ruthless since then, picking up wins against Ballymena United, Loughgall and Glentoran, to surge to the dizzying heights of fourth in the table.
The Dungannon man, in his second season in charge, admits it’s a long process that is now paying dividends.
“We are very happy with where we are now, but the progress has not been achieved overnight,” he said.
“We gave away a lot of easy goals last season, so it meant to win games we were having to score three of four times every time and that is not sustainable against quality opposition.
“We did what we could towards the end of last season and won the last five games of the season conceding very few and that has sort of led into pre-season this year.
“We worked on our resilience in defence. I like my teams to play good football that is nice on the eye but I realised we needed a more ruthless streak too if we were to stop getting picked apart in defence,” he continued.
“If you look at us this year, we have conceded on average fewer than a goal a game and haven’t conceded at all in our last three games, that’s progress.”
Bar a 10-minute period of madness against Linfield in their 3-1 defeat, the Swifts have been worthy opponents in all their games thus far, being unlucky not to get at least a point in their other loss so far, a 1-0 defeat at Solitude against Cliftonville.
“I think being honest we looked at those opening three fixtures and we knew it was about getting through them with minimal damage.” McAree said.
“I don’t think anyone outside the club would have given us any hope of getting any points in those three games, but we got an excellent draw against Coleraine, where we were close to winning, and then for me it was about seeing the performance against Linfield and Cliftonville and I could see we were improving minute-by-minute.
“I think that’s why I haven’t been so surprised about picking up the three wins since then.”
The first win of the campaign came at Stangmore Park against a big-spending Ballymena United outfit, but more importantly, just an hour before kick-off, four of the squad were involved in a car accident en-route to the game.
So, does the manager see the turn in fortunes on the field coming from circumstances off it on that day?
“Possibly, I think the accident forced my hand a bit to be a bit more open with my selections, and those boys really stepped up to the plate,” the former Glentoran manager said.
“Three of the guys involved in the accident were due to start so I had to make some big calls quickly, however, it was more than about football that day.
“Myself and the players were obviously quite emotional, but we had to get our heads in the right place and it has created a bit more togetherness and trust in the whole squad as a result.”
At the time Dungannon felt it would have been best to postpone the game but due to a quirk in the rules, that didn’t happen, something that McAree doesn’t want to go through again.
“Our general manager Simon Graham called in the accident but was told there were no rules for officials to call off the game in these circumstances and it would have to be a call between managers.
“I spoke to Jim (Ervin) and I appreciate he had concerns about bringing the fans and players back down on a Tuesday night, but it was an awkward situation that I would not want to repeat and hopefully some new legislation can be brought in to allow officials to make a call.”
The Swifts head into Friday evening’s game without Tomas Galvin (ankle) and Dylan King through injury, while Dean Curry is rated at only 50-50, but McAree is hoping for a good game and a degree of revenge for last season’s surprise 5-2 defeat by the Ports in the Mid-Ulster Cup.
“Niall Currie always gets a strong team out and I expect no different this Friday,” he commented.
“Last season’s cup defeat brought us down to Earth a bit and we do not want that to happen again.
“They have narrowed Shamrock Park, and it is suiting their play and is turning their ground into a bit of a fortress.
“All we can do is concentrate on our own play and hopefully get through the challenge with another three points.”