IRISH LEAGUE: Dungannon Swifts banish awful record to claim massive win against Cliftonville

Dungannon Swifts ended their 30-game winless streak against Cliftonville thanks to two Andy Mitchell goals at a rain-lashed Solitude.
Andy Mitchell is all smiles after scoring twiceAndy Mitchell is all smiles after scoring twice
Andy Mitchell is all smiles after scoring twice

The burly frontman netted in either half and, while the Reds pulled one back when Caoimhin Bonner powered home a header.

“I thought we looked a little nervous at times in the second-half but, really, our keeper’s not had too many saves to make and we held on well in the end,” said visiting boss Rodney McAree.

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“We didn’t mention the record (against Cliftonville) before the match. We’ve mentioned it before a lot of recent games against them but we didn’t bring it up today.”

After a turgid opening quarter, the contest came to life when Mitchell converted Alan Teggart’s 24th minute delivery to break the deadlock.

It was 2-0 just after the hour when the home defence was sliced open by a goal kick from Andy Coleman and Mitchell accepted the invitation to double his side’s lead and put them within touching distance of a long overdue victory against the Reds.

Bonner’s 73rd minute reply caused a few jitters among the visiting support but, Dungannon comfortably held on to take the points, much to home boss Gerard Lyttle’s angst.

“I’ve had players coming to me and saying they should be in the team but after that, there’s honestly not one person I can look at and say they did enough to earn a start next week,” he said.

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