Longford Town Vs. Sligo Rovers

[sligoman]

Anybody going? Should be a good game, we'll probably lose but we'll put up a fight :D . I am hoping to go myself.

[Redzer]

I hope to go myself, should be interesting to see how we play especially after the decent effort against Shams.

[SligoRoversfan]

when is it????

[sligoman]

when is it????

Wednesday the 2nd of March @ 7:45pm (k/o)

[akearins]

Yeah should be good d game and on a better surface we will see how good we really can be. Only problem is scoring goals

[Longfordian]

Pretty accurate prediction apart from the score, 1-0 Longford was how it finished. I and a good few others were impressed with how ye played the game, good footballing moves and ye caused us problems at times, our keeper made a few good saves. Hope ye do well in the first this year but I'd be concerned about ye being kicked off the ball a little by physically stronger teams. That Low fella looks a decent player too by the way. I think our lads were a bit fooked after a very hard week's training in Spain but fair play ye played well.

[Redzer]

This is my match report, for what its worth. Rouse, McNamara, O’Dwyer, Gallagher, Low, O’Grady, Feeney, “Faz”, Curren, Carlos and Steve O’Donnell starting 11. Very shaky start at the back, O’Donnell and Feeney swapped places, but no real penetration up front. Conceded a goal on 37min from a corner, after a scramble to clear the ball. Second half plenty of changes, Mulligan, a bright future for him. Played very well. Sean Flannery and Brian Josh went up front. Flannery had a great chance to score with a free header, but keeper saved. Raff had I think 2 shots on target, with the keeper tipping over the bar. Josh was lively, as was McCarthy; both pushed of the ball too easily. O’Grady played well and distributed the ball with accurate passes. Low was very good as was “Faz”. Carlos was disappointing for me. Longford in fairness deserved the win, but we had our chances.

[Red Army]

Sean Flannery
WTF :eek:

[Red4Eva]

Sean Flannery and Brian Josh went up front. Flannery had a great chance to score with a free header, but keeper saved.





Is flannery back, first i heard.

[Red4Eva]

[QUOTE=Redzer]This is my match report, for what its worth. Rouse, McNamara, O’Dwyer, Gallagher, Low, O’Grady, Feeney, “Faz”, Curren, Carlos and Steve O’Donnell starting 11.




Thought O'Donell was'nt back for another week, Did he seem fit?

[Red4Eva]

Was he any better against longford?

[akearins]

Yeah was at the game last night and although I got very worried after the first 20 mins or so I thought we settled in very well for the second half and deserved a draw at least.
We really got the run around in the first 20 and were chasing shadows(but at leats we chaed them) but remembering this Longford side is together for the guts of 3 years they looked a settled outfit and know where each would be without having to look up to see,this comes with time.A lot of our early passing was wayward and we lost a lot of ball early on.The goal was scrappy and we need to cut out these mistakes.
Once we got over the opening 20 we settled into the game our passing became more ccurate and our ball retention was a lot better.
But one noticable point mentioned already we are far too light weight in all areas.Faz and Conor were easily knocked off the ball in the middle (as were almost every player with the exception of O'Donnell and Flannery) and I cant remember us winning any clean headers there either.
Personally I think we will need to muscle up the middle to cover our defence with O'Donnell and then decoide if its Conor or Faz to partner him,I would play conor there and Faz on the left for his passing and work rate.

Up front we are short and never looked threatening until Falnnery came on,Alvarez worked his socks off so credit for that and has a neat touch but aerially he is no Naill Quinn.

Overall to take the positives from last night :
Effort couldnt be faulted chased everything.
We looked very fit and for the last 20 mins were camped in Longfords half.
For me O'Donnell stood out for the time he was on the pitch,Flannery gave us much needed muscle up front and If Conor can work from midfield with him he could bag a few goals.
Ralph when he came on , he is without a doubt our best player easily playing a Division below himself.

I would have concerns about our squad, we had a lot of potential on the bench but no experience in contrast Longford had a bench of Dessie Baker,Paul keegan,Dean Fitzerald,Tom Mohan and Eric Levine and some more.
We look shaky at the back and McNamara needs another centre half to play along side him, I'd like to see Philip gallagher being givena go with him as he is a decent ball player and Mc would be the braun.
Need to work in set pieces caught off side too often from our own quick set pieces(but will come in time) and we have no aerial strength from corners so something will need to be worked on the training ground to counter that.

Overall I would be positive, good attractive football to watch, no one was found wanting for effort and for the alst 30 mins you could have been mistaken to think that point were on the line as we went for the equaliser.

P.s need a centre half and striker badly

[Rory H]

what was tosh like...

flannery has been training with rovers all week...it says a lot for connor when all these players are coming back

if he can recover his form then we might not need a stirker

barry o dywer is quality but not at the mo..he will improve

[akearins]

what was tosh like...
Wouldnt be too impressed far too light doesnt have the frame to challenge defenders and knocked of the ball to easy.

flannery has been training with rovers all week...it says a lot for connor when all these players are coming back

Differnet managers play different systems that suit different players,I always liked Flannery he has an excellent fiorst touch and brings a lot of players into the game.Pity McT has opted out this season I always thought they would be well suited up front

if he can recover his form then we might not need a stirker

barry o dywer is quality but not at the mo..he will improve
nees to improve his passing and caught out of position too ofen last night

[Redzer]

I have to say we were all rubbing our eyes when we saw Flannery warming up, but, he looked as fit as ever I saw him. The problem with Sean last night was that he wasn't getting up for headers. Apart from that he did well enough.Steve O'Donnell also looked very fit, as always ran his socks off and challanged very well. I'd say a few Longford players will remember him.He didn't pull back from any tackle. As Alan said, Raff made a major differance when he came on, up to that we were very narrow but he got a few great balls in from the wing.

[raginrover]

I was sure he had made a committment to the gaa for the season i think hes played a few national league games for them. Hope hes back for the season though, a big strong centre forward could be just what we're looking for.He did really well for rovers when he first came on the scene but the confidence seemed to seep away from him as new managers(i use the managers term loosely!!!) came in, Seems Mr.Connor is doing all the right talking to these players hopefull the players will do the walking back to the premier.
The Futures bright the Futures Rovers!!!!.