Rodney McAree eyes European return after Dungannon Swifts left with ‘uphill task’

Rodney McAree proud of Dungannon Swifts Conference League outing despite costly red card decision

Rodney McAree was left to question the refereeing decision which left his Dungannon Swifts side facing “an uphill task” in their Conference League qualifier against FC Vaduz.

The second was tensely poised as we headed towards half-time at Solitude with the Swifts one-goal advantage from the first leg still intact.

But it was all to change in the 44th minute as Tiernan Kelly was shown a straight red card by referee Kristoffer Karlsson following a coming together in an aerial challenge with Luca Mack.

The Swifts bravely dug in for the second half before Mats Hammerich levelled the tie with 11 minutes to go and set up another 30 minutes of football.

In stoppage time at the end of the first period Mischa Eberhard put the visitors in front for the first time before Nicolas Hasler’s breakaway goal in the 120th minute rubbed further salt into the wound.

Speaking after the game McAree pondered the dismissal as he felt it had a major impact on the outcome of the game.

“I’m not overly sure if it is a sending off, if the referee has got it right then fair play,” said the Swifts boss.

“It’s one of those decisions which you need to make sure you’ve got right because it’s an uphill task for us at that stage.

“I think it’s two boys going to challenge for a ball in the middle of the park and when you’re jumping to compete for an aerial ball your arms have to elevate you. I don’t think there’s much malice in it and unfortunately we’ve paid the price.”

Despite the defeat McAree was delighted with the efforts of his Dungannon squad over the two legs and he hopes they won’t have to wait as long to get back in European competition once more.

He said: “Everybody within the dressing room, from Decky Dunne as number one the whole way through to Ernie Whittle, John Smyton, the doc and everybody involved, they’ve all worked extremely hard over these two games and over pre-season.

“They’ve done themselves proud, their family proud and the league proud. They’ve certainly done me and the club proud.

“To see the crowd we bring here tonight is massively pleasing and the support they show us at the end of the match is heart-warming.

“It gives you a little bit of hunger and desire to be involved on this stage more often. We certainly don’t want to be waiting another 17 years. We’re disappointed we lost the game but the effort we showed was tremendous.”