This time of year can be hard for the players

Isuppose anyone not at the game last Friday night would consider it another three points, another clean sheet and consolidation of fifth place in the league. They are important factors but it’s the manner of the performance against a team who are all but relegated that worries me.

I appreciate Longford are fighting for their lives but they have struggled all season.

We started brightly but like a lot of our games at home this year we failed to create meaningful chances.

What is the difference in us against the top sides where we play so well to the bottom sides where we struggle.

I know at this time of year players are thinking about the break and it has been a long season.

I found this time of year hard when the team had nothing to play for to keep the motivation up. I loved the games but I didn’t love the training.

The games are your bread and butter no one pays to watch you train but they do to watch you play.

I find it hard to stomach the last two home performances because of the result in Oriel Park sandwiched in between them.

I have been thinking about how we can go from one special performance to two mediocre displays.

I look at some of the players’ body language against Longford and you could see they weren’t up for the fight because that’s all it ever was going to be.

I also think some players who are signed for next season have pulled the handbrake up.

The manager and the club are doing the correct thing in signing the players they want for next season but the players are letting them down by not turning up for work every week with the right attitude.

I’m very happy with most of the players re- signed but one or two are very lucky.

It is a result orientated business and if I was Dave Robertson, to the outside world I’d be saying the correct things but inside the dressing room I’d be hammering them.

The most embarrassing thing about the game last week was Nugent getting man of the match for the simple reason no outfield player deserved it.

I mean no disrespect to Nugent with that comment but he had little to do compared to other games but in fairness to Nugent he deserves it for his clean sheets so far.

The best player on the pitch was Don Cowan who gave us plenty of problems with his strength, pace and direct running.

I watched our third goal in Dundalk the other night which was a brilliant counter attacking goal that started in our right back position.

We do better against the top teams because of that. The likes of Dundalk come at us we soak up the pressure and catch them on the break.

When we play the Longfords of this world it’s a different scenario. We, the home team have to come out and attack them. We don’t possess a Richie Ryan or a Joey Ndo to open teams up that makes it harder for us to create chances.

That’s the kind of player we are missing, a player that can see a pass open a team up but also play the position. We need more players committed to attack I feel we give teams too much respect and are reserved in our play.

The winning goal at the weekend was an incisive forward pass triggered by an incisive forward run which Sadlier finished. We need much more of that, more forward passes and more incisive runs.

As I said earlier it is a results business and it’s great to win but it’s also nowadays an entertainment business and 1100 fans will not sustain a full time football club.

This week it’s the team of the season Derry who have defied the odds to qualify for Europe.

They have worked a minor miracle with the budget they have and the mixture of players they have.

I fancy us to get a result because of our counter attacking set up but also because even though they won last week a lot of players didn’t do themselves justice.