Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree felt that his side were denied a penalty and that Cliftonville’s spot kick should not have stood in their 4-1 defeat by the Reds.

Andy Mitchell went down under a challenge from Michael Newberry in the box in the first half, but Jamie Robinson waved away penalty appeals.

Then on the stroke of half-time, Rory Hale took a tumble after a challenge from goalkeeper Declan Dunne, with Robinson awarding a spot kick, which Joe Gormley converted.

“The one against us is not a penalty, we watched it on video and all Decky did was stand up and get a foot on it, he certainly hasn’t used force,” McAree told BBC Sport NI.

“The challenge on Andy was a decision that went against us. We have to be careful; we can’t be too critical, we know we won’t get every decision, but I think we’re the only team in the league that haven’t had a penalty, and we could have had one today.”

McAree was also disappointed with the nature of the goals that the Swifts conceded.

“We take the lead then concede straight away which is disappointing, Gormley is unmarked in the six-yard box, and he does what he does,” McAree added.

“We watched set pieces all week and we know they try things, but we let Taylor Steven come inside and we find ourselves 2-1 down and at that stage Cliftonville are in control.

“We were thinking get in at 2-1 and we’re still in the game but a penalty goes against us.”

McAree has also challenged his side to improve defensively as they look to get back to winning ways.

“We’re not doing enough defensively; we conceded 10 goals in the opening 13 game and 11 in the last three so as a unit we have to have a look at that and be harder to beat.”