Rovers begin with a bang
Wicklow outfit overcome Arklow Town in their opener
ARKLOW TOWN WICKLOW ROVERS 1 2
WICKLOW Rovers started off their league campaign on Saturday afternoon with an impressive 2-1 victory away to a very competitive Arklow Town side at Bridgewater Centre Park.
Rovers started brightly right from kick off, the travelling side were much better organised throughout the pitch from defence to attack.
They almost got the perfect start in the fifth minute when a well delivered free-kick from midfielder Ciaran Keogh met the head of Luke Whyte. Whyte rose above everyone in the penalty area but his header went just over the bar.
Rovers striker Nathan Sullivan was electric in the opening 15 minutes, his pace was causing all types of problems for the Arklow defence.
The striker was making runs inside the Arklow defence and getting his shots off, he almost got the opener of the game in the eight minute when he made another one of his darting runs on the outside of the box and just before he was about to shoot he turned inside and tried a rabonna flick to chip the ball into left hand top corner but the flick went over the bar, much to the delight of the Arklow keeper Dylan Byrne, great skill from the youngster.
It wasn’t long before Rovers took the lead, on the 20th minute Sean Farrell forced the ball over the line when a goal line scramble resulted in the home side conceding a needless goal with poor marking from a set piece.
The home side were lucky not to concede another goal moments later when Dylan Murray went to ground in the penalty area to tackle Nathan Sullivan but caught his opponent on the follow through resulting in a penalty and a yellow card for the defender.
Defender Sean Leonard stepped up to take the penalty but his powerful strike blasted off the crossbar and out for a goal-kick, much to the relief Dylan Murray.
Rovers got their second of the game in the 40th minute with Ciaran Keogh again providing the assist. Keogh floated a long range free kick finding Dylan Frazer in space who finished off his chance on the rebound.
Arklow Town did have a chance to grab one back before half time from a well delivered corner from Daniel Bradshaw but the header from Chris Fur- long went just past the post.
Furlong’s opportunity just before half time must have given the striker confidence in the second half as he was involved in everything attacking-wise for the rest of the game, he had a few chances in the opening minutes of the second half but unfortunately for his side he failed to hit the target.
The Town went so close to grabbing their first goal of the game in the 56th minute after some great counter-attacking football.
James O’Brien started off the attack finding Daniel Bradshaw in space who then played the ball out to Luke Commins who drove a low shot across goal but his shot went narrowly wide.
The home side were growing in confidence by the minute and were much more organised than the first half.
They grabbed a goal back on the 60th minute from another well delivered corner from Bradshaw and this time Furlong took his chance and headed the ball home to make it 2-1.
Town had multiple chances to equalise towards the end of the game but none of the chances troubled the keeper.
Town should have made it 2-2 in the 78th minute from an indirect free kick after the Rovers keeper picked up a very controversial back pass.
James O’Brien took the free kick but with the majority of the Rovers team on the goal line the free kick was defended.
In the end Rovers held out for an impressive victory over their league rivals. Arklow Town did have many opportunities throughout the second half to equalise but a well drilled Rovers defence were well organised and earned their first three points of the season.