Gorman insists Swifts will have to be at their best at Coleraine

TONY Gorman insists Dungannon Swifts must back up Saturday’s win over Glenavon if they are to avoid relegation.

A second half goal by Rhyss Campbell against the Lurgan Blues earned Swifts only their second win in 17 attempts since the start of the season.

That precious victory – a first in 10 games – takes them six points clear of basement side Portadown and to within eight points of Newry City.

Assistant manager Gorman, who was standing in for the suspended Dean Shiels on Saturday, said the occasional victory will not be good enough to keep his team out of the bottom two.

Ahead of this weekend’s trip to his old stomping ground at Coleraine, Gorman said, “You know what it’s going to be so tough up there.

“We have gone there in the League Cup and got played off the park. We were really, really poor but I think that was down to how well Coleraine played.

“If you look through their team they have got real quality. For us to go to Coleraine and get something we need an eight or nine out of 10 from every player.

“Today (against Glenavon) we got that and in fairness in the last month we have been getting that without getting the results. We need to continue that and bring it into the Coleraine game.

“We have to back this result up over the next few weeks, we can’t let our levels drop.

“At the risk of repeating myself the level of performance, the effort, the work-rate has been there in recent times. There is a bit of belief in the squad and yes we have to start backing this result up.”

Last weekend Dungannon were good value for their victory, albeit against a strangely subdued Glenavon.

Swifts created a number of promising situations and on another day could have won by a more comfortable margin.
Campbell, Caolan Marron, Michael O’Connor and Ryan Mayse all threatened the Glenavon goal while at the other end the only chance of note was an attempt by Michael Glynn which the raiding left-back pulled wide from eight yards.

Injured defender Dean Curry also got a run out with the club’s under-20s against Larne on Monday night so it would appear things are beginning to look up for the Stangmore Park outfit.

Saturday’s win was certainly greeted with relief and joy in equal measure and Gorman said it was great to see the mood change in the dressing room.

Reflecting on Saturday’s much needed-victory the former Linfield star added, “The overriding emotion is one of relief for sure because it’s that stage of the season when you’re going into December and we were sitting stuck on four points.

“And now the gap between us and Newry is eight points.

“It has to be remembered that this time last season we were 13 points behind Carrick Rangers and we caught them. I think it’s fair to say that that victory has been coming.

“Our early season form wasn’t good enough but after recent performances, including against Larne last time out, we felt ourselves that things were going in the right direction.

“Glenavon are such a difficult opponent and our worst performance since I have been at the club was at Mourneview Park at the start of the season when we got beat 5-0. We were lucky to get away with 5-0 to tell you the truth.

“That was in the players’ minds before the game but this result has been coming and we got just rewards for our efforts.”