GET READY TO FLY
Seagulls nightmare start can be ended says skipper
GARY MCCABE wants Bray Wanderers to hit the reset button after a disastrous start to their league campaign.
The Bray skipper vowed to do his best to ensure the Wicklow club retain their 16-year top-flight status – already at risk after eight successive defeats.
The ex-shamrock Rovers and Sligo ace believes they must consign the first series of matches to history – then press restart for the remaining 28 fixtures.
“It’s a matter of regrouping,” said Mccabe. “We just need to forget about the first round of games and say, ‘Listen, it didn’t happen’.
“We just have to put it behind us and go again. We have to correct everything that has gone wrong so far.
“Nothing’s happening for us at the moment. We’re conceding too many goals – there’s been too many mistakes, decisions by refs.
“Everything’s going against us at the minute.”
The 29-year-old admits that didn’t expect to be facing into a relegation battle this season.
“At the start of the year, we had great confidence,” he claimed. “We went to Dundalk and pulled off a great result.
“It’s just caved in on us from then on.”
But the Seagulls captain insists that all is not lost and steadfastly believes the Wicklow side can somehow turn their fortunes around.
“If I didn’t, I’d throw in the towel and walk away,” he stated.
“I don’t know how many years I have left as a footballer, but I don’t want [relegation] to be part of it. I want to keep fighting and keep Bray up this year.” Mccabe re-wrote the records books last year by becoming the first Wanderers player to score 15 top-flight goals in a single season.
But has netted just once this term as the Seasiders have scored just four times in eight Premier outings.
He explained: “We have a very young squad. But even for the future, you don’t want to set bad examples for young boys coming up. “They don’t want to look at senior players throwing the towel in and giving up. We just have to put out arms around them and tell them, ‘Listen, it’s football – you just have to keep going’.”
Matters off the field haven’t gone smoothly either.
Assistant boss Jason Mcguinness departed the Carlisle Grounds before last week’s 4-0 drubbing by champions Cork City.
Furthermore, reports that manager Dave Mackey had departed his post last weekend were wide of the mark.
Ahead of their clash with St Pat’s on Friday, Mccabe stated: “We need a 1-0 scrappy win or something like that just to lift spirits.
“It’s just about sticking together. There’s no point arguing with each other, fighting and blaming.”