Candystripes rocked as Rovers hit back to retain perfect record
Derry City Shamrock Rovers 1 2
SHAMROCK Rovers came from behind to maintain their 100% record at the top of the Premier Division at the expense of a disappointed Derry City at the Brandywell yesterday.
The league leaders were in danger of dropping their first points of the season after Walter Figueira’s first half goal had given the Candystripes the lead, but an own goal from Colm Horgan and a follow up from Roberto Lopes kept their perfect run intact.
The game was drifting uneventfully towards half-time when the first goal arrived out of absolutely nowhere. Eoin Toal collected the ball on half way and decided to join the attack, bursting between two Rovers players before finding Walter Figueira on the left wing. Toal continued into the penalty area in anticipation of a cross, which was duly delivered but, incredibly, eluded both Lopes and Alan Mannus with the ball sneaking into the net.
Boss Stephen Bradley was far from happy with his team’s inability to test City keeper Peter Cherrie and, midway through the second half, he had used all of his substitutes to completely change the look of his attack.
Those changes had the desired effect as Rovers finally levelled on 78 minutes, but there was still an element of luck about the goal.
Rory Gaffney did well to pick out a cross from the right and a glancing header by Dean Williams went over Cherrie but onto the post before it bounced off the unfortunate Colm Horgan and into the net.
Rovers were relentless after that and, buoyed by the goal, went in search of a winner which they thought they’d got when Neil Farrugia went in from the left and picked out Williams, but he was denied from close range by a superb save by Cherrie.
City were, however, unable to defend the resulting short corner, Graham Burke receiving the ball in the area before sending it into the mix, where Lopes was on hand to fire it past Cherrie with just eight minutes remaining.
Derry continued to push in added time and they came so close to levelling when Adam Hamill’s cross was met brilliantly by Ciaron Harkin who headed onto the crossbar before Mannus somehow kept out Toal’s follow-up.
DERRY: Cherrie, Horgan, Toal, Gilchrist, Coll, Mccormack, Thompson (Hamill, 82 mins), Bruna (Harkin, 71 mins), Malone (Cole, 82 mins), Figueira, Akintunde (Mallon, 71 mins).
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Mannus, Grace, Lopes, O’brien (Gaffney, 63 mins), Lafferty (Farrugia, 46 mins), Finn (Marshall, 75 mins), Mceneff, O’neill, Watts (Burke, 46 mins), Byrne, Greene (Williams, 67 mins).
Referee: Derek Michael Tomney.
LINFIELD have kicked off this season’s Champions League with a bang and defender Mark Stafford says the players are living the dream.
In his early career, the 32-yearold former Ballinamallard United ace never thought he would be part of a Linfield squad going up against Europe’s elite.
But David Healy’s side reached the Europa League play-offs last year after losing their Champions League first round qualifier against Rosenborg and the Premiership champions are now winning games and admirers on the continent again.
The Blues’ exploits have helped the Irish League regain their fourth European place next season and if they keep flexing their muscles, the club’s Uefa co-efficient could become the highest in Irish League history.
A trip to Legia Warsaw in the Champions League first qualifying round awaits if they win tomorrow’s preliminary decider against Kosovan side Drita in Nyon (5pm).
Linfield booked their spot in that tie by beating Sammarinese champions Tre Fiori 2-0 in Switzerland on Saturday, with Bastien Hery and new signing Christy Manzinga finding the net for the Windsor Park side.
Hery found the top corner with a long-range effort after 71 minutes before debutant Manzinga wrapped up the win seven minutes from time.
Tre Fiori’s poor afternoon was compounded when defender Giacomo Pracucci was sent off in the closing stages for a poor challenge on Kirk Millar.
Stafford (below), an unused substitute in the game, has been impressed with the new arrivals at Windsor but he accepts repeating last year’s European heroics is a tall order.
“The bar very high last year, performances against some good teams were exceptional,” he said. “It’s going to be very hard to replicate that but I think this squad we have now is even better than the one we had last season. is set from
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“We’ve obviously lost Joel Cooper, which is a big loss, but I think the squad is still strong and the new signings will leave us in good shape for Europe and the league season.
“The new signings are quality players and have been able to go straight into the first team and make an impact, it’s not a case of bringing in squad players.
“They are top players and the competition to get into an 18-man squad next season will be strong.
“It has always been that way but now we have even more quality which will push standards up in training and matches.
“The club will keep moving