Cobh Ramblers

[ForzaForth]

Lively and competitive game in St. Colman’s Park last night, but one where the home side deserved the three points as they created the majority of chances. Wexford began with Corey Chambers, back from Canada, in goal (well done to the young Kealan Gaffney who did nothing wrong in his stint there), Conor, Eoin, Sean, John, Liam, Crokey, Dean Kelly, Dean George, Ryan and with Danny Doyle up front. Cobh started well and had two reasonable chances when crosses into the Wexford box weren’t finished and then a nice Cobh move finished with a chip over the Wexford bar. Wexford had eased themselves slowly into the game and, on 16 minutes, had their first effort on target when Paul Hunt had to push away a good Crokey effort for a corner. Midway through the half, Corey Chambers showed strong hands to knock away a decent Cobh effort on target. Then Wexford’s Dean George had a good swivel and turn inside the Cobh box to volley a shot just over the Cobh cross-bar. Best save of the night came from Corey Chambers a few minutes later, when he spread himself well to deny a clear one-on-one by a Cobh attacker straight down the middle of the pitch. 0-0 at half-time with Wexford pleased enough to be going in on level terms.

[ForzaForth]

The second half began with plenty of sparks. Cobh had a good shot blocked by decent Wexford defending and immediately Crokey fashioned a good Wexford chance with a good move inside the Cobh box but Wexford couldn’t finish. The ball then ended up at the other end ofthe pitch again when a raised arm was deemed a penalty by a decent referee (not sure who he is). Cobh blasted the peno high and left into the net and Cobh were ahead 1-0. With 20 minutes to go, Aaron O’Connor came on in place of Liam McCartan. With 18 minutes to go, an excellent piece of play by an impressive Denzil Fernandes for Cobh left three Wexford defenders in his wake and when the ball was touched off, it left an easy finish for a Cobh attacker for 2-0. However, Wexford pulled a goal back almost immediately when a shot by Dean Kelly hit the inside of the post and rolled along the goal-line, but the goal was given by the linesman just as the retreating Cobh defender attempted to clear. Mark Slater then came on for Wexford and again looked lively during his time on the pitch. Wexford applied some pressure to get the equaliser but the final important piece of action fell to Corey Chambers who did really well again to touch a point-blank header by a Cobh attacker over the bar.

[ForzaForth]

So final score was 2-1 but you couldn’t fault the effort by Wexford all over the pitch and the team spirit still appears to be there with plenty of leadership from the admirable skippering by Crokey. The result means that Wexford can’t have any expectation of finishing higher than second from bottom. The key game is therefore Athlone away in two weeks time when they need to secure the three points to ensure that finishing last is not a possibility.