Dungannon Swifts target another big night as history in Europe beckons

Dungannon Swifts take a one-goal lead into tonight’s second leg against Vaduz at Solitude

Dungannon Swifts are hoping to continue to ride the crest of a wave as they welcome FC Vaduz to Northern Ireland for the crucial second leg of their Conference League qualifier.

The Swifts host the Liechtenstein club, who ply their trade in the Swiss Challenge League, at Solitude with Rodney McAree pleased to take a lead into the home leg following Sean McAllister’s spectacular winner last week.

McAree now has to come up with a plan to finish the job but he admits it won’t be easy.

“We understand that we’re only at the halfway point, but it’s better going home with a 1-0 win than a 1-0 defeat,” he said.

“Obviously we would love to go and finish it off now, but we know it’s going to be tough as Vaduz will come and make it difficult.

“But we’ll set out a plan and we’ll try to make the fans happy again and give them another big night.

“I’m not a big fan of playing three at the back so we’ll look at it and see if we’ll change it or not for the home leg.

“Solitude is obviously a slightly smaller pitch, it’s a good surface and a good stadium so it will create a good atmosphere.”

McAree felt his side grew into the game in the first leg before McAllister fired in the only goal of the game at the start of the second half.

He said: “I thought in the early stages of the game we gave Vaduz too much respect. They are a very good team who play very good football and get into very good areas.

“We were probably too eager. We needed to show some composure and patience when we didn’t have the ball and get back to being hard to break down.

“I thought when we did that we did well, but we can do so much better with the ball.

“We know there are improvements there, but it was a part-time club, going to Vaduz, on a big pitch the size of Windsor.

“It was a big, big shift at this stage of the season, so to come away with a 1-0 win is absolutely fantastic.”