Drogs not getting carried away by their six-y start

TIM Clancy says he’s under no illusions about the difficult task facing Drogheda United in Wexford this Friday - despite their club record-equalling 6-0 rout of Athlone Town on Sunday afternoon.

The Boynesiders have only enjoyed a six-goal victory in the league twice before - 7-1 away to Finn Harps in 1977 and 6-0 at home to Kilkenny in 1994 - and it was their biggest win in any competition since achieving the same scoreline in an EA Sports Cup tie against Longford Town five years ago.

But the Drogheda boss is expecting a much stiffer test from Wexford on their own patch in Ferrycarrig Park (kick-off 8pm) in what is Wexford’s first home league game of the season after an opening-day victory at Cabinteely and a 3-0 reverse away to Longford Town last Saturday.

Clancy was at that match in Strokestown Road and saw enough to suggest that Drogheda will have to be at their best to pick up all three points.

Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, the manager said: ‘Wexford had a fair few chances at that game in Longford and conceded a couple of late goals which put a bit of gloss on the scoreline for Longford, and going down there is going to be a different challenge for us.

‘They are at home, having got a good result against Cabinteely, and after Saturday they’ll be looking to get back on track, but we will prepare the best we can. We’ll set out our game plan with the squad this week and go down there and try to win the game.

‘I’ve played there before with Bray and it’s a big pitch and quite a good surface, but we’ll be under no illusions that it’s going to be easy. We’re still a work in progress and there’s a lot of things to work on.’

That said, Sunday’s first competitive game in charge could hardly have gone any better, with six goals scored, a clean sheet and an absence of any bookings or injuries.

‘It was obviously a long time coming in regards to the couple of false starts we had,’ Clancy continued, referring to three previous postponements.

‘I think that added to the bit of nerves around us, but on the day it turned out to be a very good start. We scored early, got another just before half-time and scored again straight after half-time which maybe put the game beyond them.

‘That allowed us to play with a bit more freedom in the second half.’

Clancy agreed that the timing of the goals was perfect from Drogheda’s point of view, especially the second - an own goal - which was scored on the stroke of half-time.

‘The game was very very competitive at the start,’ he pointed out. ‘Aaron [Callaghan] has a big job down there [in Athlone] because he has a lot of young players to try to gell together and I think he had trouble getting pre-season games, but I think they’ll be more competitive as the season goes on.’

Drogheda will be at full strength, with no injuries or suspensions to deal with, while Wexford boss Damian Locke will be keeping his fingers crossed ahead of his team’s EA Sports Cup tie tonight (Tuesday) at home to Cobh Ramblers, with a bit of a shake-up in his team likely to keep them fresh for the visit of the Boynesiders.

Drogheda’s first-round tie in that competition away to St Mochta’s - postponed from last week - takes place next Monday at Porterstown Road (7.45pm).

•The SSE Airtricity Under-17 and Under-19 Leagues both kick off this week and Drogheda’s two teams are both in Northern Division action against Longford Town. The 19s have home advantage in their game, with a 2pm start on Sunday in United Park.

Wexford had a fair few chances at that game in Longford and conceded a couple of late goals which put a bit of gloss on the scoreline for Longford, and going down there is going to be a different challenge for us