Ltfc 1-2 Wufc

[De Town]

Terrible result. I wouldnt mind losing to a good team who play nice football but I hate losing to cúnts like that Reynolds fcuker

They took the **** out of the ref in the 2nd half with their time wasting but we played very poorly aswell, defence looked shakey. When we went 1 down, played some nice football but got the equaliser, which was a great run by Barrett, then we just sat back, played hoof-ball, waiting for half-time to arrive. The pen was a disgrace, Murphy( ) went down before he even got close to Digger. Barrys fault for the 2nd goal. Murph had it under control in the middle but Barry had to come and try to clear house. He was stretching for it, hit the challenger and rebounded out to the left wing were they just passed it to Murphy who finished it well.

Terrible start to the season. We have to be beating the likes of Waterford if we want to do well in this league.

Roll on Next week

[CollegeTillIDie]

DeTown

This is the second competitive game of the season and the term bad defending has been used to describe Longford. What's going on?
Last year Town were a team who couldn't score but could defend... they are becoming one who can't do either if the first two games are anything to go by. And I must say I would not like to see the Town go down

[De Town]

DeTown

This is the second competitive game of the season and the term bad defending has been used to describe Longford. What's going on?

Well, Gartland (1/2 of the partnership from last season) went to Drogland and we took Danny O'Connor off them as a replacement. He still hasnt gelled with Barry at the back but give them time and hopefully they will

I dont think we will go down though

[Fermoy Blue]

Send the cnuts down!!

[CollegeTillIDie]

Danny O'Connor used to be a full back at Drogs as far as I can recall... what happened to young Paisley is he gone?

[De Town]

what happened to young Paisley is he gone?

No, he's still here. He was suspended last night but was playing against Glentoran. He will probably be used at left back for the season.

[Longfordian]

Paisley will be in centre back for the next game I'd put money on it, he's away with the U21s next week so the Derry game will be off I think, good thing too as we've a pile of injuries as well.

[Dillo]

A very very poor start to the campaign for Longford Town... What makes it even more frustrating is the fact that Waterford are a very average side who under Ratface constantly deploy time wasting tactics and whatever else they can to get a result. They play puke football and cheat their way through games- surely the dogs o' war of the EL. After the blues took the lead following a dubious penalty decision Town had a good ten to fifteen minute spell where they at least attempted to keep the ball on the ground and play some constructive football. This proved fruitful as the lively Shane Barrett levelled matters with a sublime volley (already a contender for goal of the season!) following a great run. It was no more than the red and black deserved after some fine passing and off the ball movement.
Following this however we took our foot off the gas and once again allowed Waterford into the game. A defensive mix up between Ferguson and O' Connor allowed the prolific Darlyl Murphy to sneak in and volley past a helpless Digger. Very discouraging to say the least. As was evident last week at the oval, both centre backs looked shaky and inconvincing all night- an area pre seaon that I thought we'd thrive in. What was to follow for the remainder of the first half and after the interval was terrible, shambolic and unacceptable. We resorted to launching long balls for the majority of the game and created very little in the way of chances. This was awful to look at and the sort of football people do not want to see free of charge- never mind fifteen euro at the turnstile!!
I am not one to run down our players but surely after a promising pre seaon including a week long out in the Algarve etc, we can come up with something better than this!! It was a dreadful display of hit and hope all night and if this continues the Flansiro faithful will continue to diminish. Young Gary Cronin was at nothing all night and looks very light weight. Big Deano was huffing and puffing all night and failed to stamp his authority on the game while Alan Murphy looked poor and short of match fitness. Dessie Baker had one of his quieter nights and a bit like Harry Kewell at Liverpool may be more concerned about his appearance than his performances.
I could go on all night but I won't. From last night's performance, it appears to me that LTFC do not appear to be making significant strides on the football pitch. As both football and Longford Town supporters we deserve better than this. Flancare Park deserves better this and above all the Eircom League deserves better than this. Perhaps I'm being slightly overly critical on certain aspects but I am not one to settle for second best when it comes to football.

[Martinho II]

it is typical that when we are tipped to do well we make a big mess of things. tbh i thought we were a disgrace i dont know why baker was playin in the first place. defensively we were shockin too much hoofball being played.

not impressed with cronin or o connor keego should have played from the start. davy byrne or tom mohan should have played from the beginning.

tbh with the derry game being called off i for one am relieved about it as i would not have fancied our chances against a resurgent derry city team so we have a lot more gelling to do.

hopefully things will be sorted out by thursday weekwith the cork game.

real impressed with barrett.

how long is myler out for?

[observer]

As long as Alan Matthews is content to use Diggers "up and unders" and Fergusons hoofed balls, as the main attacking ploy's for Longford the team cannot and will not progress. W hy buy midfielders if they are to be bypassed everytime Longford have possession?

[RockofGibraltar]

Here Here

[Sonic]

you hit the nail on the head.playin it on the ground got us to one one and we hoofed it thereafter.matthews wiuld want cop on to himself.same old story from fans blame the ref rather than matthews and his players

[Xlex]

Barrys fault for the 2nd goal. Murph had it under control in the middle but Barry had to come and try to clear house.

A defensive mix up between Ferguson and O' Connor

Can't let those two quotes on Waterfords second goal go unchecked. Firstly, Murph played that ball back to Barry to clear, in half a yard of space Barry's clearance was blocked. The ball rebounded to Murphy and in an area between Dillo and O'Connor he blasted past Digger. That's my perspective on the goal from where I was in Section O. It was a softish goal but hard to finger much blame on anyone. I was fuming with Cronin at the time because he wasn't anywhere for Prunty to clear his lines to. Why is it Dillon or Prunty can do little wrong.

Bring Barry back to the right side of defense. I was really disappointed with the game. A narrow pitch. A poor mans full-back playing centre of midfield. Cronin was non-existant.... No width and Diggers unaccurate up and unders. Can't pick a decent player all night for Longford. Brutal.

In saying all that, waterfords keeper had a great game and denyed us a point. In the second half Waterford played with 10 men behind the ball and were very umimaginative....

[Longfordian]

As long as Alan Matthews is content to use Diggers "up and unders" and Fergusons hoofed balls, as the main attacking ploy's for Longford the team cannot and will not progress. W hy buy midfielders if they are to be bypassed everytime Longford have possession?

He's not content but footballers do what comes naturally to them when under pressure, no matter how many times they're told. He definitely doesn't tell them 'hoof it all the time lads', and having seen them train a few times that's not what they're taught in training either. It was a very poor display but Alan was even more angry and upset than anyone else.

[Wiseguy]

Gary Cronin has looked poor in every game so far.Alan Kirby goes walkabout and is everywhere on the pitch except where he is suppose to be.This crap of persisting to knock long balls up to Barrett and Baker is getting really annoying.Every person knows that if something isn't working you change it.The Waterford defence just headed the ball back up the pitch.We gave it away much to easy and ended up running around after the ball half the night instead of letting the ball do the work.Barrett & Baker are not the answer up front.
Alan Murphy in the centre of midfield is a no go IMO.Why not put Tom Mohan or Davy Byrne in there.These guys play in that position anyway,the game just passed Spud by.All these problems should have been rectified in Pre season and we should have hit the ground running now we are in a position where we have already dropped points and have very tough games coming up.
Digger can't be held fully responsible because most of the time nobody wants the ball off him anyway so what else can he do with it.Most players don't even want the ball from a throw in so we resort to throwing it down the line and eventually giving the ball away.It's the same with short corners and quick free kicks.Most of the time they're wasted yet we keep persisting with them.Most of these are very basic schoolboy errors and we shouldn't be commiting them.
Each season everyone looks for an improvement but from what i can see we appear to have carried over some of last years bad habits and i think unless they are sorted out we will under perform in the league again and this is where success is really measured.We have a really good squad with quality in every position and all our best performances have came when we have passed the ball so there can't be anymore excuses.I know the ref was very poor on saturday night and the Waterford tactics were terrible but that did not stop us playing football, we just didn't adapt to it and got dragged down to their level which happened to often to last years Team so it's vital it dosen't happen to this years team.

[Ronnie]

I found the game quite similar to the Glentoran game. In the first half, especially at 1 down, we got a grip on midfield, won an awful lot of the knockdowns in midfield, thus keeping the ball and switching the attack, giving us 4 chances in quick succession before Barrett equalised. Reynolds and his midfield got a foothold in midfield after our goal and the game got very tight, no space for full backs or centre halfs to get the ball ftom either keeper, thus all long ball in second half. Second goal very disappointing as I felt we would go on to win it at 1-1. Their keeper had a very good game and seems like a very good replacement for yer man with Dogheda.

[Flea]

Yeah in fairness now it was very poor altogether, it didn't seem like the first game of the season, it seemed like the last where we were out of bite and ideas. I wouldn't agree that everyone was bad, Barrett namely was very good coming back to his real quality and should be awesome this season. Prunty, Ferguson, Dillon and Fitzgerald were all OK. Kirby was bad, as was Baker, O'Connor, Murphy not much better. Worst of all, Digger and Cronin. Digger should be viewed as the reserve cos lets face it hes finished and hes crippling our play build-up. As for the second goal, Ferguson couldn't get even 10% of the blame hes gettin. Ferguson is a good defender but when things go wrong he gets all the blame. Easy shot, easy save, but wasn't saved . Yeah hes done a lot but hes past his best, even half his best and this didn't do Vinny any good so I don't see what keeping him on is gonna do i.e. get a new keeper NOW! As for Cronin, terrible, the lad is a twig, completely the wrong man to accompany Deano in the centre, sure hes "blowin' in the wind" most of the time Really awful. On the plus Barrett is back to run riot if its kept on the ground. Watch this space!

[higgins]

You looked out of ideas against Glentoran too!


Didnt see any of the Waterford game but from the look of Longford during the first Setanta game your going nowhere this season. You started off well passed the ball around ok'ish... When the game got scarpy and it looked like any team who strung 2 or 3 passes together would have a good chance of winning you suddenly go long ball all the time with silly efforts over the midfield???

The first half was going ok so what happened?

If thats the style of play you had in the Waterford game im not surprised. Matthews also annoyed me again after the Glentoran game by coming out and defending the performance It was shocking I thought. Keegan is one of your best players (still not great) but he starts on the bench? Davy Byrne What is Matthews thinking?

[Longfordian]

What exactly do you mean by 'Davy Byrne ' ? Doesn't make much sense really, elaborate....Managers almost always defend their team in public, it's nothing new. Keegan or Baker was the choice at the time and given Dessie's goal record compared to Keego's at the time it was understandable enough that he started with Dessie.To be fair he didn't play well but starting with him was reasonable enough in my opinion. Wouldn't write off our season just yet, it's been done before and we've ended up reasonably satisfied with our few cups..

[higgins]

I just think Davy Byrne has been going downhill after his first year at shels. I dont see what he adds to any team and am just surprised he's in the team !

Fair shout with Dessie but maybe he could have changed things a little sooner? Maybe even half time as Dessie looked useless.

Defending a bad display in public is one thing but its the manner in which Longford approached the game and the tactics they used that I cant understand. It wasnt pre season fitness that stopped you winning it was the tactics involved??? Thngs were looking ok at the start when you tried passing it but the more the game went on the tactics changed, why? Only reason you had some pressure at the end was because glentoran could'nt sting 2 passes together. He probably couldnt say too much on TV but I thought is was very boring football from Alan and Longford. Why not use some of the decent midfielders you have!! I would have expected Alan to be p!ssed off after the game but he appeared to act like it was a job well done and you were unlucky.