Lowry hails professional performance

COLERAINE midfielder Stephen Lowry spoke of his delight after registering his first goal of the season yesterday afternoon…

The Limavady man would head home from Lyndon Kane’s cross to make the breakthrough, with further strikes from Eoin Bradley, Matthew Shevlin, Jamie Glackin and Ronan Wilson sealing a 5-0 win against Dungannon Swifts.

Lowry admits his goal came at a good time after Dean Shiels’ side made a bright start at Stangmore Park.

“I was disappointed that I didn’t score against Carrick last week as I had a few chances,” he said.

“Goal scoring obviously isn’t the main aspect of my game, but I love scoring goals like everyone does, so it was nice to grab one today.

“Dungannon had a few good chances in the first 10 or 15 minutes to be fair.

“They were unlucky not to score one and when we got the goal we took control of the game.

“We always find it difficult down here to be honest, they are a hard team to play against and they are playing a good brand of football.

“But I thought we were professional and strong today and over the last couple of games we have looked the part.”

The Stripes had five different names on the scoresheet and Lowry knows goal contributions across the park are vital this season.

“We need to share the goals around the team,” he emphasised.

“At the minute we don’t really have a 20-goal a season man, that’s not to say things might change through the season and one of our strikers hits 20 goals.

“So we are going to need goals from all over the pitch.

“It’s a good sign if a number of players are chipping in with a few goals to be honest.

“And we will need that throughout the season.”

The 34-year-old expressed ‘feeling down’ after the Bannsiders’ defeats to Larne and Cliftonville but feels they have shown grit and determination to get back on the winning trail.

“We’ve shown good character over the last couple of games to bounce back,” he continued.

“I’ll be honest I was feeling a bit down after the first two games because we had put so much effort into them.

“I thought we had played really well in the first game at Larne and ended up losing it with two late goals.

“We put a load of effort into the Cliftonville game as well and came out with nothing to show for it either.

“That took a lot out of the bodies, but to be fair we have bounced back.

“We’re delighted with the last two games but we know we’re still climbing the hill to catch the teams above us.”