Wexford FC v Longford

[ForzaForth]

Wexford badly missed the creativity of the injured Kaylem Harnett as they struggled to create anything in the final third against a lively Longford side in Ferrycarrig this evening and the Longford keeper, Harry Halwax, didn’t have a save of note to make in the entire game. Wexford started with Alex, James, a welcome return from injury for Robbie McCourt, Dean, Mikie, Darragh, Calum, Zayd, Dobbsy, Ryan Butler and Ryan Scanlon. Wexford had an early sighter on four minutes when Aaron Dobbs had a shooting chance, but he didn’t make the right connection and the ball went harmlessly wide of the Longford goal. The decisive goal came as early as the sixth minute when Robbie McCourt’s attempted clearance was blocked and the ball eventually fell inside the Wexford area to Emre Topcu who found the Wexford net with the aid of a deflection. 1-0 to Longford. Wexford also didn’t have a lot of natural width with two wingers, Ryan Kelly and Filip Wasilewski, being introduced very late in the game. It meant that Wexford played a lot of hopeful ball down the middle of the pitch where it was mopped up by a dominant Longford defence. On 19 minutes, Wexford were lucky not to go two goals down when a clearance by Alex Moody was half-blocked by Longford’s Dean George and the ball was then dinked by a Longford attacker just the other side of Wexford’s far post. Only real Wexford chance of note happened on 24 minutes when Dobbsy brought the ball wide of Halwax in the Longford goal, but from an acute angle, the shot on target resulted in an easy catch for the Longford keeper. Wexford again got the rub of the green when Dean George latched on to an underhit Wexford back-pass but the former Wexford player looked to be adjudged somewhat harshly to have fouled Moody in the Wexford goal. 1-0 to Longford at halftime with Wexford needing to up their game in the second half.

[ForzaForth]

Wexford did begin the second half a bit more brightly with some increased tempo and Dobbsy had a volley close in to the Longford goal on two minutes which was blocked by a Longford defender. On eight minutes, Calum Flynn had a clear run in on the Longford goal but took slightly too long to get away his shot and won for himself only a corner. Wexford’s Ryan Butler then made a miraculous goal-line clearance for Wexford to keep the scoreline at 1-0 to the away side. Mikie Rowe then had a shot on target for Wexford but it proved to be another routine catch for Halwax. On 29 minutes, Alex Moody did well to push away a goal-bound header by Longford substitute, Franny Campbell, at the expense of a Longford corner. A late Wexford free from just outside the Longford area was then smacked straight against the Longford wall as it summed up Wexford’s lack of goal-scoring threat on the night. 1-0 to Longford at full-time and the home side can have few complaints. Crowd was believed to have been 523.