Rodney McAree Attributes Dungannon Swifts’ Defeat to “Poor Goals”

Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree stated that his team “imploded” and “conceded poor goals” during their 4-1 loss to Coleraine at the Showgrounds. McAree’s squad currently holds the fourth position in the Irish Premiership standings, trailing third-placed Ballymena United by a single point. The match saw James Knowles score to equalize Matthew Shevlin’s first-half goal. Nevertheless, Danny Wallace’s own-goal restored the lead for the home team, after which Shevlin scored two additional goals to complete his hat-trick, securing the victory and three points for Dean Shiels’ team. Speaking to BBC Sport NI, McAree commented, “I thought up to an hour we were very good without creating an awful lot.” He elaborated on his team’s performance, stating, “We didn’t do enough in the final third to create opportunities or to get shots off and asked enough questions. We have imploded a bit; we conceded poor goals.” McAree specifically addressed the second goal, noting, “The second goal, the ball that comes into the box is maybe a lack of communication from a defender’s point of view, Wallace has put a foot out and it’s ended up in the back of the net.” He further added, “I think we can deal with the third one a little bit better as well and the fourth one, a wee bit of laziness has crept in by that stage, and we give a penalty kick away.” Following an impressive beginning to the season, during which they recorded only one defeat in eight matches, Dungannon has now experienced consecutive losses, including a defeat last weekend against Loughgall, who are currently at the bottom of the league. McAree further commented, “Listen we have picked up our first back-to-back losses in our 15th game and I think that shows we have done extremely well.” He continued, “We are not naive to think we are going to finish third or fourth at the end of the season. We are going to finish as high as we possibly can but to do that we have to get back on track as soon as we can.”