WATCH: 'The small margins are killing us' says Newry City coach Dermot McVeigh after their 2-0 loss against Dungannon

Newry City coach Dermot McVeigh spoke to the Newry Reporter after his side’s 2-0 defeat at home to Dungannon Swifts saying, ‘the small margins are killing us’.

He was referring to two huge missed chances by Fra McCaffrey and Georgie Poynton in the first half of today’s game, as well as a string of bad luck which saw Newry miss penalties against Loughgall and Crusaders in recent games, as well as being denied a seemingly stonewall penalty last week against Glenavon.

Although eleventh-placed Ballymena United were defeated by Carrick Rangers, the result leaves Newry five points adrift with just three games left in the season.

Newry went 1-0 down when Joseph Moore’s cross-shot found its way into the far bottom corner of the net, 22 minutes into the game.

Despite the Swifts having the lion’s share of possession, it was Newry who had the best chances, but they couldn’t profit from them.

Frustratingly for City, they were unable to create many clear cut chances after the break, and Dungannon put the result beyond doubt when Rhyss Campbell scored a late penalty.

Crucially, after the referee pointed to the spot, Barney McKeown was shown a straight red card for dissent, and he will be a huge loss for City in their final three games.

For full match report and reaction see this week’s Newry Reporter – in shops Wednesday April 17!