Swifts boss McAree relishing test against champions

Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree is targeting a victory over Larne which would take his team up to second in the Premiership standings.

The Swifts hope to bounce back from the midweek defeat by leaders Linfield as they prepare to take on the champions at Stangmore Park on Monday night.

"It's a tough game - Larne have had a lot of matches and they're playing catch-up in the league while Linfield maybe opening the gap on them puts a little more pressure on them," said McAree.

"There's a lot going on at Larne at this moment in time but we just have to make sure we set ourselves up in a way that we can maybe go and win the game and try to get something out of it and try to be competitive.

"We're looking forward to it. It's our last game this side of Christman before we play Loughgall [on Boxing Day] so it's giving ourselves the opportunity to challenge ourselves to get points.".

Indeed, Larne now trail the pacesetting Blues by a massive 25 points although the Inver Reds have seven games in hand.

Larne will go into the match bouyed by Thursday night's historic 1-0 win over Gent as they secured their first points in the Uefa Conference League.

With their European adventure completed, Larne can now turn their full attention to challenging for a third straight Premiership title.

"Hopefully we can get a run together and catch up with our games in hand," said captain Tomas Cosgrove.

"Until it's mathematically impossible, we'll give it [winning the league] a go. Hopefully this will be the catalyst to push us on and we go again on Monday."

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