New Dundela striker David ‘Dee’ Fearon believes Niall Currie and his coaching team will help him hit top form at Wilgar Park.
The 25-year-old joined the Duns this month and opened his account for the club in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Ards and credits Currie, along with coaches Clifford Adams and John McAllister, with his confidence.
The coaching setup were appointed at the East Belfast side earlier in the campaign and having signed Fearon for Carrick, will know exactly what the striker brings to the table.
“Niall, Cliffy and John trust me and that fills me with confidence,” Fearon – who netted 17 goals in 22 appearances for Knockbreda in the 2018/19 campaign – explained to Match on Tuesday.
“I struggled at Carrick because of my knee injury, but now I’ve got the surgery on that and back available to play so I’ve linked up with them again.
“When you are given that sort of trust by a coaching team it fills you with self-belief and makes you want to repay that on the pitch.
“You can see that with all of the players due to the transformation in performances and results since they came in.
“When they joined the Duns the club were rock bottom and now we are picking up results almost every week.
“They just seem to know what to do and when to do it – and they have the full trust of the dressing room.”
The Duns have now lost just one of their last 10 matches across all competitions – winning six of those – and are one of the form sides in the division.
“Nobody at this club has been thinking about a relegation battle or looking at the table,” added Fearon.
“We know we are so, so much better than that and we have more than enough about us to be one of the top teams in the division.
“That comes from the top in terms of a defined way in what we want to play and the players who can carry that out.
“We want to be top six – that is a challenge because of the results at the start of the season but that is where we should be as a minimum.”
Fearon returned to the Duns for the second spell at the club this month having regained fitness after knee surgery.
A natural finisher, it was little surprise that Glentoran signed him after his scoring exploits in the Championship for Knockbreda and now aged 25 – could be hitting the peak of his career.
“It was a no-brainer for me to join this team and think it’s perfect for me,” continued Fearon.
“Dundela create chances – from wide areas, through the middle, from link-up play, from using physicality.
“From a striker’s point of view, this is the sort of team you love playing in.
“There is so much creativity in this team and that is something I feel I can thrive from.”
There has been somewhat of an exodus of players this month from the Duns, with David Finlay, Ethan Warnock, Kyle Anderson, Thomas Robinson, Michael Smith, Tiernan McNicholl, Ben McMorris and Jordan Hughes among the exits.
One player who is making the most of his game-time at Wilgar Park is 17-year-old Rhys Annett, who came off the bench on Saturday to net twice in the win at Ards.
Fearon added of the teenage star: “Rhys has so much potential and such a bright future ahead of him.
“To be doing what he is doing at this level at such a young age is so impressive – his attitude is spot on too.
“He is so fast and really has that burst of acceleration to get away from players, and his finishing is deadly, he’s strong too – he really has it all!”
