Moan looking for Town to push on ahead of clash with Swifts

WARRENPOINT Town skipper Stephen Moan is determined that the Mournemen prove they deserve to be playing at this level.

The defender has witnessed just about everything in his time at the club, and following the highs of Championship success, has experienced the lows of life playing in the Danske Bank Premiership.

They play host to Dungannon Swifts this weekend after the mixed emotions of last Saturday’s topsy-turvy six-goal thriller at Ballymena where a last minute equaliser denied them all three points.

However Moan is confident that Matthew Tipton’s mix of wise older heads and youthful exuberance can secure survival and push Town up the table.

“I love the club, I’ve been there a long time and I think we deserve to be in the Irish League,” explained Moan.

“We got relegated a couple of years ago so that obviously didn’t go to plan, but we’re back and fighting back with a new team and new players so hopefully we can push on.

“We won the Championship, got relegated and got back up again so it has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but I think we’re doing alright as a club.

“I think we’re playing good football, we’re creating chances but it has been hit-and-miss.

“It has been tough going, we’re conceding too many goals and if we can cut that out, I think we can push on.”

Dungannon will be reeling after their four-goal mauling by Cliftonville a week ago but Moan knows that makes them an even more dangerous proposition heading into the match.

“Dungannon are a good footballing side,” he added.

“We played against them in the League Cup and we went all the way with them and they scored a last-minute goal, that’s the story of our season.

“But I think if we keep our heads and play like we did at Ballymena, we can definitely over-run them.”

Also pleasing last week was that Town scored three goals and Darren Murray’s name was nowhere to be seen on the scoresheet.

That’s something Tipton has been asking of his players and the exceptional Lorcan Forde’s double and Conor McMenamin’s threat from the set-piece shows they have more than one weapon at their disposal.

“Darren and Stephen Murray are two good strikers and we’ve signed Alan Davidson who is a major boost,” said Moan.

“It’s nice that we got goals from a midfielder and a defender and as Tippy said it’s great to score from a set-piece.

“It just shows you what we’ve been working on.

“Conor McMenamin’s delivery is very hard to deal with, it’s frightening.” Up for it: Warrenpoint Town captain Stephen Moan