Back to back victories
IT was a long time coming, but Sligo Rovers finally got their first home win of the 2020 SSE Airtricity League Premier Division campaign on Saturday evening, when they defeated Shelbourne 2-1 at a sun soaked Showgrounds.
It was a second win on the bounce for Liam Buckley’s side who were comfortable 2-0 winners against Derry at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium the previous week, their first game back since the season restarted.
Rovers were disappointed when last Tuesday’s game against Waterford had to be postponed after a Waterford player displayed symptoms of Covid 19.
A second player then showed similar symptoms, but both subsequently tested negative.
That game has now been rescheduled and it will take place at The Showgrounds on Tuesday August 18th with a 5.45pm kick-off.
Liam Buckley’s side will be hoping to make it three from three this weekend when they travel to Turner’s Cross to take on Cork City on Friday evening.
Neale Fenn’s men have struggled so far this season, and are two points behind Rovers.
With only a dozen (or fewer for some teams) games to play, it is clear that every single point will matter as the short season means there is very little time to put a run together.
Confidence is most certainly growing among the Sligo Rovers faithful following those two important victories, and with a number of players yet to return from injury, along with the addition of Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe, it appears as though fans have plenty to look forward to.
Liam Buckley’s side started the campaign desperately, losing all four of their opening four games and stuck to the bottom of the table.
Buckley himself has repeatedly spoken of his pain at constantly seeing his side sitting at the bottom during the lengthy break, as he awaited the clearance to return to action.
The break may well have proved to be beneficial for Rovers.
Many remarked at the intricate passing moves that Rovers put together over the course of the last two games, their threat from every attack and indeed their solidity at the back. Very little of that was visible in the first four games.
Players spoke of the break allowing them to work on more technical aspects of their own games when they couldn’t train with their team-mates, and it seems to have worked so far.
But no-one will be getting carried away. Cork are desperate for points, and although they have struggled so far this year, they will be no roll over.
Waterford, on the other hand, who Rovers face at home next Tuesday, have picked up three wins and a draw so far this season, and have proved to be tricky opponents.
Strict measures were in place at the Showgrounds on Saturday to allow for social distancing, with all rules adhered to.
Hand sanitizing stations were placed around the ground in numerous locations and the 50 or so fans allowed to attend the game certainly enjoyed themselves.
LIAM Buckley’s Sligo Rovers team appear to have turned a corner regarding their run of form.
Having lost their opening four games of the season before the league was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bit O’Red have now won two from two since the restart.
The break seemed to come at a good time for Rovers when you consider the lengthy injury list that Buckley and his backroom staff have to contend with.
The Rovers boss was pleased with Saturday evening’s performance, and said the victory was the important thing.
“IT’S important (to win again), especially with the teams that are around you. We’ve worked extremely hard, the lads have. I’ve seen us play better, at times it was scrappy.
“WE put in a shift and we won again, which was very important. If you looked at the league table for the last four months, it hasn’t been pleasant reading.
“AT least now we’re pushing up the table and we need to keep our feet on the ground. We’re going down to Cork next weekend and give a good account of ourselves there.”
Rovers went ahead just 30 seconds into the game, with their
lead doubled less than ten minutes into the second half.
Buckley praised the efforts of Jesse Devers, who gave his side the lead.
“It was a great goal from us at the start, Ryan De Vries did particularly well down the left to put in a cross for Jesse and it was a great finish for him.
“It’s important that he’s getting in the box if he’s going to get his fair share of goals like we do expect from that position. It was a good start and in the second half we got the second goal and we put ourselves in a more comfortable position.
“We sat back a little bit for the last 15 minutes which disappointed me but that said, we’ve dug out a result and that’s most important.”
Although the Shels goal came too late for the Dubliners to stage a comeback, Buckley says it’s still vital that his side don’t relax for the last few minutes of games to avoid a scenario like that happening.
“As much as we score goals at one end, we have the challenge of keeping clean sheets at the other end so it is important for us.
It dragged them back into it for the last few minutes, there was only three minutes left but nonetheless I’ve seen stupid things like that before where teams get a late late goal and all of a sudden you’re really disappointed.”
He’s not getting carried away, though, and says there is still work to be done.
“We’re definitely improving and we’re working extremely hard as a group. There’s a lot of quality in our group, I have said this from day one. We just have to get the best out of them in the best shape. It’s still a work in progress for us at the moment.
“We’ve done OK tonight, I definitely see us playing better, I definitely think there’s more comfortable performance in us, but we need to work at that quickly \s there’s only a dozen games left.”
The Bit O’Red have been defensively sound for the last two games. Garry Buckley’s injury meant he was replaced by Danny Kane at centre back.
“I didn’t want to change anything tonight bar Buckley coming out from the Derry game and one coming in. Kyle and Danny came in, Danny did particularly well. He headed well, he tackled well, he read it well. It’s important that we don’t throw up too many chances, and that was their challenge this evening to limit them and they did limit them in fairness.”
Both Will Seymore and Ryan De Vries were substituted with injuries, but Buckley is hopeful it’s nothing serious in either case. Both players will be assessed throughout the week ahead of the meeting with Cork City at Turner’s Cross.
“I think they had slight hamstring strains so we will just have to see how that is.
“Hopefully it’s not too serious. I think there is another one or two due back.
“Garry Buckley won’t be too far off, Lewis Banks won’t be too far off, we’ve obviously got Junior to come into the group from next week.
“All in all we want to get as many fit lads as we can in the group so that we have as many options as possible coming off the bench and it makes the first 11 that bit stronger.”
With Junior Ogedi Uzokwe available for this weekend, and potentially a couple of players back from injury, Buckley might have some difficult decisions to make regarding his starting eleven.
“I’d prefer to have those tough decisions to make than not. With due respect to the squad that we have, we have a few young lads in the squad that are doing fantastically well, they’re learning on the job at the minute with the injured players coming back we will be that bit stronger.”
Cork might be struggling so far this season, but their point with Waterford on Saturday keeps them closeby.
The Rovers boss says he won’t be taking any teams for granted.
“Waterford were in fourth spot today, and they got a draw. I’ve no doubt it will be difficult in Cork, they’re fighting for their lives like ourselves and Finn Harps, all of the teams outside the top two or three, there’s very little between us.”