Town stop rot as they avoid drop
WICKLOW ROVERS 1 DROGHEDA TOWN 2
DROGHEDA Town boss Robbie Horgan has expressed satisfaction with Drogheda Town’s season after the Marian Park club avoided a fourth consecutive relegation following victory in Wicklow on Friday night.
Town have slipped down the divisions alarmingly in recent years and former Drogheda United manager Horgan couldn’t prevent them going down to the Major Sunday 12 months ago after taking over mid-season, but now brighter times perhaps lie ahead.
Back in January their prospects looked bleak following a home defeat by bottom club Ratoath Harps, but since then Town have won five, drawn one and lost only three games and they now looked poised to finish ninth out of 13 teams.
Reflecting on the season, Horgan said: ‘The first half of the season was pretty poor. We lost a few players and I found that hard to understand because it’s a great club with great facilities.
‘But the ones that stuck around did well and we have some good signings in mid-season who have made a huge difference. There’s great unity up there at the moment as well, which is great for a manager.
‘I’m glad we’ve stopped the rot because I don’t think we could have afforded to go down another league.’
Town had begun last week with a creditable 0-0 home draw against promotion-chasing Corduff on Tuesday, but come Friday they found themselves a goal down to Rovers inside five minutes.
Wicklow needed to win to have any chance of avoiding relegation themselves, but on the 25-minute mark Town hauled themselves back level when Kryz Witowski smashed a superb 25-yard free kick to the top corner of the net.
In the second half Wicklow pushed hard for a lead goal, but the Town defence stood firm and keeper Vinny O’Hare made a couple of good saves.
Town had penalty claims turned down in the 73rd minute, but two minutes later the Wicklow keeper tangled with Emmanuel Santos, this time the referee awarded a spot kick and Witowski duly converted.
Town still have two league games remaining, both against Enniskerry who are also fighting relegation. The first of those is at Blackstone Motors Marian Park this Friday (7.45pm).
The Lumny O’Reilly Cup quarter-final tie against Parkvilla has been pencilled in for Wednesday week, May 24th.