DROGHEDA UNITED CREATE NEW SCORING RECORD WITH 8-1 WIN IN WEXFORD
TIM Clancy must have enjoyed a more successful start to management than anyone else in League of Ireland history, but the Drogheda United boss is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.
His first competitive game in charge ended in a 6-0 victory against Athlone Town and then last Friday the Boynesiders broke the club record when trouncing Wexford on a scarcely believable scoreline of 8-1 in Ferrycarrig Park.
To put the total of 14 goals from two games into context, it took Drogheda 23 matches to reach that mark in the Premier Division last season.
But, with all due respect to those teams, who made up the bottom two in last year’s First Division table, the real tests start now and the Boynesiders face two tough home games in succession - against Galway United on Friday and then Finn Harps next Monday (both 7.45pm).
Clancy is certainly not getting carried away by his team’s stunning goal return and instead he’s focusing on the ways his squad can improve.
Asked, with tongue in cheek, if he was finding management easy, he replied: ‘I don’t know about that now! The voice is still going anyway, but we can’t complain about how we started.
‘I think the best thing for us so far has been how hard lads work as a team and they’ve done that since day one of pre-season.
‘We’ve got to try and keep those levels up and make sure they keep them applying themselves the best way they can, and if they can do that then it will give us a right good chance to be in the play-offs at the end of the year.’
League favourites Galway are already setting the pace with seven points from three games and it’s been a dream start in particular for their striker Danny Furlong who leads the scoring charts with six goals, while six different Drogheda players have already got on the scoresheet this season.
Looking ahead to Friday, Clancy said: ‘You could have only prepared for the games you’ve had, but as I said at the start of the year, and I’ve not changed my mind, I think Galway are the ones everyone will be targeting. They are the favourites, and rightly so, to win the league and the rest of us will be trying to aim for them and get as near to them as possible.
‘It’ll be a big test for us on Friday and I’m sure Shane [Keegan] will have his team prepared, but myself and Kevin [Doherty] will try and get us prepared the best way we can.
‘We’ll go into that game with confidence obviously after the last two results, but we’ll know as well that it’ll be a big test.’
Clancy’s plans to give fringe players some game time in Monday’s EA Sports Cup tie away to St Mochta’s had to be shelved when the pitch at Porterstown Road failed a morning pitch inspection, resulting in the fourth postponement of a Drogheda match this season.
He is likely to be without Sean Brennan after he was stretchered off in the Wexford game, and Lee Duffy who was red-carded.
‘Seean’ll go for a scan and we probably won’t know the extent of it for a few days, but we’re hoping it’s not too bad,’ said Clancy.
‘The influence Sean has, not just on the pitch but around the dressing-room with all the players and the young squad, is brilliant, but also his quality. He’s the best footballer in this league, so we’ll be hoping to get him back asap.’
A number of other Drogheda players needed treatment during last Friday’s Wexford game, including Chris Lyons who had a bloodied nose, but Clancy insisted he wasn’t too unhappy with the opposition’s tough tackling.
‘I’m not unhappy with the challenges. Maybe a couple of them could have been punished a bit more severely, and then Lee’s is a red card. He [the referee] got that right in fairness to him, but I think it was just the combination of a lot of tackles from them and you feel a bit frustrated.
‘Lee will learn from it. He has got to try and keep control of his energy and direct it in the right way and if he does that he’s going to be a huge asset for us, as he’s shown in the first couple of games.
‘Whatever games Lee misses, it’ll be a blow for us because he’s done really well, but we’ve got lads to come in who can do well. It’s a good squad that we have.’
Clancy clearly wasn’t happy with some of Drogheda’s play in Wexford and was quick to let his players know, despite the one-sided scoreline.
‘There’s a lot of things we can improve on and I’ve said that to the lads. It’s decision-making for 90 minutes of the game and we switched off in the first half and gave away a penalty.
‘I think Conor Kane got the ball, to be honest - some go your way and some don’t - and then we gave away a goal as well, so it shows that at this level if you make a mistake you’ll get punished.
‘So we have to limit the amount of mistakes we make and concentration levels and workrate can always improve.
‘The good times in football are after a game when you’re winning and with your teammates. When you train together as hard as we do all week, it’s geared for match days and when you get a win it feels good, but we know as well that we’re only a couple of goals away from feeling deflated.
‘The idea is not to get too high when you have highs and not to get too low when you have lows and find a balance, a happy medium, and that’s what we’re aiming for.’
We’ve got to try and keep those levels up and make sure they keep them applying themselves the best way they can, and if they can do that then it will give us a right good chance to be in the play-offs at the end of the year.