I thought we should have taken all three points in that one.
We certainly had the better chances.
A great result all the same.
Cathal and Hughes were quite.
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I thought we should have taken all three points in that one.
We certainly had the better chances.
A great result all the same.
Cathal and Hughes were quite.
Good result lads.
Much better than the result we got down in Cobh.
I don't see a title winning team in Drogheda at all so far, but give it a couple of games and they will hit their stride. I think we are going to have a far more open finish to the season this year.
We may have benefited from the poor pitch, although we did play the best football when when got it down on the ground.
Coleman had a great game. Brushy was top class!!! Two world class saves.
I was impressed also with Butlers free kicks, he whipped in some nice balls.
Not too sure we had the better chances. Drogs had two grat chances, Bates should have hit the target and Brushy made a fantastic save for the other one.
Having said that, I thought we were the better team in the 2nd half and Drogs were certainly holding on for the draw. Almedia had a good game, while Raf had a great 2nd half. Judge made a difference when introduced, it will be interesting to see who starts up front against Bohs. I thought Judges effort was gonna sneak under the bar.
All in all a good result and great effort in the 2nd half. There was enough there to entice the crowd back on Friday.
it was a decent game, conditions didnt help, we had a few chances and could have scored one or two but they had 2 great chances aswell in either half, a draw was the fair result. referee was poor in general, but so is every one of them, there all a disgrace.
hopefully we can improve again in front of goal and take some of the chances, big game next friday now, would be great to get 3 points
After the first twenty minutes i thought we were going to get thrashed,we were lucky not to cocede but the lads showed great heart and the more the game went on the more it looked likely we would score. Thought we played quite well and we have a good chance next week against bohs. Good crowd and atmosphere,hopefully people come back next week cos we need good attendances.
decent result. Pitch was absolutly shocking,lost count of how many miskicks it caused for both sides. Brushy was assured, seamie was top class.very impressed with danny in the middle, he did loads of the hard work and was good keeping spirits up, with little pats on the back and words of encouragment for the lads. Almeida impressed too, nothing pretty but good and strong, and doesnt take chances. Boco is a fine player, but couldnt get running with the ball the pitch being the way it is. It must be infuriting not being able to use your skills properly every 2nd week on that surface.all in all not a bad nite. ref was a fuking tool...:mad::ball:
fair play to the singing section tonight too,thought you were excellent!!
Thought Drogheda were woeful for League Champions and were clearly told at half time ro get stuck in and intimidate Rovers. How many yellow cards for them? Six/Seven?. They had the better of the first half but Rovers always looked the more likely to win it in the second. Faz played one beauty into the box but Boco, obviously not knowing he was playing with a genius, had run the other way. Great stop by Brushie and overall I think lads can be well happy and the big crowd will come back for more. Almedia looks like Gavin (not the worst thing) a real no nonsense guy but it would be nice to put the ball on the ground a bit more, especially when we have such a beautiful surface for playing football.
Your right, Drogs had the better, more clear cut chances. How Bates missed that attempt in the first half?????
But, Rovers had more opportunities to score. I thought Matty Judge has pulled off another piece of sublimity with the chip Vulminum pushed onto or over the bar.
Faz put in a lot of work, even putting in tackles in our half of the pitch!!!!! (I’m not gonna make any unnecessary comments on why he was so eager).
I'd imagine Bo-wez would provide a stiffer opposition.
A shocking night for football, a shocking playing surface, a shocking referee ........
Apart from that a decent result, certainly would have taken it before the game.
Hughes was poor, was awfully disappointed with Faz. He has come to realise that the pitch is unplayable and every error is now down to the surface which isn't always wrong but a corner miskicked isn't the pitches fault. Every corner he took was poor. Did he impress Mr Doolin?
We were a revelation in the second half. I think wants Cookie got them in at half time he worked on their belief. We could have snatched it but then again so could have too. I think a draw was a fair result. Optimistic for the future let there be no doubt.
Match centre
Sligo Rovers
League
0 - 0
15 Mar 2008, 8:00
The Showgrounds
Drogheda United
Report: NIL NIL POOR PITCH
Match report by
The Drogs came away with their first League point from Sligo which was played on a pitch which was described by our players as the worst they had played on in League football. As some of our players are over 30 that is really saying something. Mr Fenlon in a former job called it a farmer�s field , but on tonight�s showing that would be doing the farmers of Sligo a grave injustice. Ok, it was a wet day and you expect it to be a bit slippy, but the uneven bounce and particularly the bumpy surface made playing football on the ground a complete impossibility and the glut of yellow cards which we received can be attributed in some way to mistimed tackles due to the uneven surface. But that�s enough whinging� get on with the report!. We lined out with only minimal changes from the Rovers match� Adam Hughes started in the middle, Richie Baker dropped to the bench and Robbo started on the right.
Sligo pressed from the start and Kudozovich mistimed his shot from a good position after 10 minutes. With the wind at our backs we pressed forward and gradually got our shape together. Unfortunately, because of the poor surface, chances came mainly from set pieces and on the 15 minute mark, Tambo rose well for a Robbo corner, but headed wide. Our best chance of the half , and possibly the match came on 25 minutes when a brilliant Zayed feint let Bates through, but although his shot beat Brush in the Sligo goal, it went agonisingly wide. Just before half-time, Garto missed a defensive header and Miko came to the rescue with a good save.
Nil-nil at half time and the second half had plenty of pressing by Sligo which was negated by their own deficiencies up front or good defensive by the Drogs. On 70 Minutes we had our best chance of the second half when Zayed slid past the defence and had his low shot beaten away by Brush. Sligo pressed well and 5 minutes later a cross from the right and Miko failed to collect and as the ball looped towards the goal, there was the ever-dependable Stuart Byrne to hook the ball away. Adam and Stuart competed well in the middle and Joe was steady all through. Ibrahima came on with 10 to go and threw a few good shapes, but in the end a point is a point and we got into our mechanically operated vehicles and hit the road back east and we can now look forward to a moderate shamrock drownin a monda as we have an appointment with George on Tuesda.
Teams line-ups
Sligo Rovers
Brush,Coleman,Butler,Peers,Almeida,O'Grady,Murphy, Boco,Kudozovich,Cretaro,Ventre
Bookings:
Drogheda United
Mikko Vilmunen , Brian Shelley , Joe Kendrick , John Tambouras (Richie Baker 88), Graham Gartland , Stuart Byrne , Shane Robinson , Adam Hughes , Eamon Zayed , Guy Bates (Ibrahima Iyane-Thiam 76), Ollie Cahill ,
Subs not used:
Richie Baker , Paul Keegan , Aidan O'Keeffe , Ibrahima Iyane-Thiam , Jamie Ewings ,
Bookings:
Brian Shelley, Joe Kendrick, Adam Hughes, Guy Bates, Ollie Cahill,
Obviousily a lad with a farming background wrote that report. I thought after the first paragraph that it was a report in the Farners Journal on the ploughing championships.
Come to think of it the manner in which some Drogheda approached this game it did resemble in some cases as a case of ploughing rather than tackling.
Some form of comfort to the travelling delegation is that after last night they surely now find themselves leading the yellow card league.
could that get any more one sided drogs werent at the races that report makes out they were all over us when it was opposite to that
Were Rover playing on an even surface?
Maybe the likes of Danny, Butler and Conor are much better at timing their tackles.
Also, Drogs did use subs, Baker came on, as did Thiam. I really dont think the person who filed this report was paying to much attention to what was taking place on the alotment....
Very one sided, Hughes was ****e, There was a fella wearing an Ollie Cathal jersey but it must not have been him as he did nothing.
Reasonable game. Better result for us than for Drogs who, like someone already mentioned, don't look like league winners so far.
Was impressed by Seamie (as always), Brush and Ventre. Raf also had a good game, and looks like becoming a 1st choice regular at this stage. Peers off injured again - he's easily crocked, it seems. Up front, we didn't do a whole lot to be honest. We would have been fortunate to win.
My big concern is Almeida at the back. Although not a whole lot gets past him, his "just hoof it away" attitude needs to be worked on. How many times did he give the ball straight back to Drogheda last night? Also, one of my criticisms from last year has remained - why don't we play the ball out from the back and use our full backs to get forward? Why does Brush always just whack it downfield?
peers just had cramp, he hasnt trained much
My big concern is Almeida at the back. Although not a whole lot gets past him, his "just hoof it away" attitude needs to be worked on. How many times did he give the ball straight back to Drogheda last night?
he mae 2 mistakes all night so what if it went out of ground or to a drogs player
as long as it didnt end up in the net
most center halfs in EL just hoof th ball away no messing is best way
I think considering the state of the pitch, there is a lot to be said for the agricultural approach to defending.
I was critical of him hoofing it last night, but on reflection, on the night it was effective. Sure, he nearly got caught out once or twice, but result is what matters. Maybe he needs time to build confidence, he is only in the door.
As for Peers, saying he is "easily crocked" is unfair. He is easily one of our most important players. when Peers plays we are a much more better team.
Not a bad game considering the mess the pitch was in. Draw was definitely the fair result as either side had the chances to snatch a win. I noticed Faz putting in a bit more effort last night but I'll wait to see if he does the same against Bohs next week before I say something about it;). Ventre was very good in the middle and as usual Coleman and Raf gave everything. It's great to have Brush back too, defence can be a lot more confident he's behind them than Jennings. Almeida did very well but he does hoof a lot(which is excusable given the state of pitch). Overall, a better performance than Pat's game and I think Drogheda were better in first half and us in the second. Sets us up nicely for the Bohs game!quite what?:confused:
Great performance by Rovers overall. Thought Brushy was very reasurring in goal and Seamie as usual was class.
I used to think (maybe unfairly) that Raf shouldn't have been a starting XI player (but great impact sub) but on his second half performance last night, I changed my mind, he played a blinder, got stuck in to everything.
Almeida, although he did clear the ball a lot by hoofing up the field or over the stand, (Dykesy style!) he still looked like a good composed center half.
Just a bit dissapointed by O Grady, he just didn't seem to be too involved in the game as it went on. But in saying that he did cover a lot of ground during the match.
The refferee was terrible, refused to let the game flow. He blew the whistle at the mere sign of a tackle and spoiled a couple of Rovers attacks when he should have played advantage.
Also, it's a pity about the pitch, I suppose now the season has started that there is not a lot that can be done about it so we might as well get used to it.
I also think we should have had a penalty in the 2nd half when a Drogheda player clearly handballed it.
Yeah I'd agree with most of that,raf(who i also used to criticise) deserves his place but maybe ogrady might lose his place to ventre . Ventre was way better imo and when we are against weaker teams the both of them wont be playing in the middle together. Your totally right about the ref as well he was blowing his whistle every few seconds.
Judge has to start next game. He will have to move either Boco or Faz back to midfield at the expence of O'Grady or Murphy. Almeida missed one tackle in the whole game and Bates should have scored from it otherwise he was a contender for man-of-the-match along with Raf. Peers is pure class, as if we didn't know. My biggest worry about Boco's performance was that at times it looked as if he did not really want the ball, I'm sure I'm wrong and he will come good.
Any ideas of attendance figure ?
Rovers website still to post report.
fair result as both teams were crap tbh .You shouldnt be allowed to play football on that pitch .How do you get a licence with the state of it :confused:
there's nothing we can do about it though, we just simply can't afford to get a new pitch!! :(
conor ogrady would be one of the last players id leave out of the side. he was maybe our best player last week against pats, and has always been good for us, his passing may need improvment alright but he makes up for that in other areas.
Is the pitch really that bad that would prevent the awarding of a licence? I don't remember you complaining about it last season!!
Isn't is amazing what one league championship does to a team and its supporters. One bought trophy seems to entitle you to dictate what is acceptable or not in the league.
ndrog you would be better complaining about your fickle "fans" who booed some of your players off at full time.
Doolin not happy with Showgrounds pitch. He described it as shocking and horrendous and it has not improved since he made his debut there 27 years ago.
Cook said "the pitch is our pitch and we cant help that. We'd all love to have Wembley as our pitch. We cant do anything about the pitch. The Showgrounds is our ground and we are proud of it"
Good old Cookie, loyal to the last!
Perhaps if we had the geographical location of Dublin-lite clubs like Drogheda, Longford etc we might benefit from having big businessmen throwing cash our way. The unalterable fact is that we're a club in a smallish northwestern town that has a good record of punching above our weight. Typical corporate Ireland nonsense to try to turn unhappiness with the pitch into a licensing issue - the same kind of rubbish that gets Galway promoted without getting enough points and makes them a member of the 'big five'. :rolleyes:
It's not what football, or sport, is all about though. Rovers do our best with the resources we have, and I'm proud of that. I'd love to see Faz, Rommy and Raf playing on a pitch like a carpet, but I'm far happier to see them continue to go out and give everything for the Bit o' Red.
No. No. No. The provision of a BASIC playing surface should be a given for any club playing senior football and our pitch is an absolute disgrace. We have players at the club at the moment who are crying out for a decent surface and this was quite clear on the occasions when we put the ball on - or as near as possible to - the ground on saturday.
When Steve C was manager at the club, our pitch was excellent. What has happened? Why has it been allowed to fall into this state? We will be the laughing stock of the league and every club who we beat at home this season - and that will be the most of them - will have a perfect excuse.
Less stiltwalkers and jugglers and more groundsmen.
Avvenalaf - i agree with you that the pitch is poor but once we beat someone they can whinge all they want, personally i love it when they leave whinging - it a goose and the gander situation but its gonna stay like this ofr the foreseeable future as we dont have e200k or a three month window to properly fix the situation.
That said we desperately need it!
as cookie says, the pitch is our pitch, nothing can change it now! nothing can be done its just too much money and the seasons already started, we should try and take advantage though.
imo at our home games now this year we already have a mental advantage over the opposition. they'll arrive at the ground and go straight to the pitch for a walkaround, and all they'll be thinking of is the state of it....they'll all be talking about how bad it is and that'll distract them from the game ahead, whereas we know what its like and i think it could be an advantage for us in some games