SWIFTS EDGE FIVE GOAL STANGMORE THRILLER

Dungannon Swifts and Glenavon produced a thrilling five-goal encounter at Stangmore Park with Dean Shiels' side eventually claiming what could be a vital three points in their efforts to avoid being involved in the play-offs.

It took the Swifts just 12 seconds to open the scoring. Rhys Campbell darted forward straight from the kick-off only to see his effort come back off the post while James Convie's follow up was blocked before he found the net at the second attempt.

And it got better for Dungannon with just over a quarter-of-an-hour on the clock. Campbell was brought down inside the area by Mark Haughey and from the spot-kick that followed James Knowles confidently converted.

But back came Glenavon. They pulled one back on 31 minutes in somewhat fortunate circumstances when Swifts defender Garry Breen diverted a Conor McCloskey cross into his own net.

Then, just three minutes after that, it was 2-2 when McCloskey unleashed a superb free-kick from outside the area with his right-foot effort nestling firmly in the top corner of the net.

Gary Hamilton's side then almost moved in front themselves just before the hour but Matthew Fitzpatrick could only look on as his header from Peter Campbell's corner crashed back off the crossbar.

The bar also denied the Swifts around 15 minutes after that when Ryan Mayse came close to restoring Dungannon's advantage before, moments after that, Danny Wallace cleared the ball off the line.

However, with seven minutes left, Dungannon did secure the points after Mayse showed great pace to reach the ball and cut it back from the byline for Matthew Snoddy to knock it into his own net under pressure from Cathair Friel.

Dungannon Swifts: Nelson, Coyle, Glynn, King, Knowles, Campbell, Breen, Devlin, McGee, Friel, Convie subs Moore (not used), Mayse (replaced Convie 70), McCready (replaced Friel 87), Gallagher (not used), McGinty (replaced Coyle 64), Conway (not used), McDonald (replaced Campbell 87)

Glenavon: Clarke, Birney, Haughey, Campbell, Snoddy, McCloskey, Fitzpatrick, Wallace, Singleton, Garrett, Ward subs A. Doyle (replaced Birney 46), O’Connor (replaced Singleton 43), Scannell (not used), O’Mahony (not used), J. Doyle (replaced Garrett 75), Lynch (not used), Norton (not used)