Return date for injured Lilywhites pair unclear
DUNDALK head coach Vinny Perth admitted his side were ‘struggling’ after going down to Sligo Rovers at The Showgrounds on Friday night.
A second successive league defeat saw the champions slip to fourth ahead of Monday’s visit of Bohemians to Oriel Park. While the result of that result was not known at the time of going to print, Perth will be well aware his side can ill-afford to drop further points when bottom of the table Finn Harps visit Oriel Park this Friday (kick-off 7.45pm) or when they travel to UCD on Easter Monday (kick-off 3pm).
Having come straight out to face the media after the 2-1 defeat to Sligo, Perth refused to pull any punches in his assessment of the game.
‘It wasn’t us tonight,’ he said. ‘We didn’t show what we’re about tonight so we’re very disappointed. It wasn’t a good performance.’
Dundalk got off to a bad start when Romeo Parkes opened the scoring after 27 seconds and while Pat Hoban did level from the penalty spot on 23 minutes, a Dante Leverock goal four minutes before the break secured a first win for the Bit O Red over Dundalk on home soil since September 2012.
‘We didn’t start well,’ admitted Perth.
‘It was a block from Sean Gannon and they came down the side of us. It wasn’t a good start but we didn’t play well enough.
‘It’s no excuse because Sligo beat us fair and square but that’s the worst pitch I’ve been on in Sligo, so it wasn’t really a night for passing. We needed to pass a bit higher up the pitch. We were a bit better in the second half albeit we had to deal with the big wind and they cleared a lot of balls and picked up second balls.’
Perth admitted his side were struggling with the injury list at present, with Robbie Benson, Patrick McEleney and Chris Shields all still sidelined.
‘We’ve had to take Sean (Murray) off again. He’s injured again. That’s just the way it goes. If I go into the injuries I might be accused of making excuses, but we got what we deserved tonight. It wasn’t good enough.
‘The team is struggling since the first game against Sligo when we had two broken bones and we haven’t been able to fix it. We had some good performances. We got a good run and a couple of clean sheets together but we’re still short at the moment.
‘I look in the mirror and question what we’re doing and I’ll take responsibility for getting it wrong and try to take responsibility for fixing it.’
Perth also said he was unsure when Shields and McEleney would return to action.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I thought we’d have people back tonight and they just haven’t been able to get back in time.
‘It’s seven and a half weeks after Patrick McEleney had an operation on his ankle. Chris Shields done his medial ligament five and a half weeks ago. Them injuries are what they are. People can put timelines on it all they want, but until they actually get onto the pitch and test themselves to train with the rest of the group they’re still behind and still struggling.
‘There’s no real light at the end of the tunnel.’
Despite just one win away from home so far, Perth dismissed the idea that Dundalk were struggling on their travels and said he looked forward to the games coming thick and fast in the weeks ahead.
‘We won up in Derry and our away form wasn’t a problem. We played well up in Shamrock Rovers and I got an apology for not getting an 89th-minute penalty from one of the officials.
‘It’s too early to talk about form, so I don’t accept that.
‘At the same time we’ve lost a game last week that we shouldn’t have lost, but at the same time we shouldn’t have won it. That wasn’t good enough and tonight we’ve been well beaten away from home, but we’ll move on from it.
‘The games come thick and fast and it probably suits us having a good few games at the moment to try and right the wrongs and get back on the bike,’ he said.