Drogs hoping to get back in the goal rush
IT seems churlish to call into question the attacking play of the League of Ireland’s leading scorers - Drogheda United - but there’s no doubt the goals have dried up in recent weeks.
In each of their last three outings they have netted only once and last Friday that almost cost them two valuable points as Athlone Town came within a whisker of snatching a stoppage-time equaliser.
However, manager Tim Clancy has defended his team to the hilt and pointed out that their proud record of having scored in every league game this season still stands.
That’s a statistic that should extend to 12 matches this Friday when Drogheda renew acquaintances with Wexford, this time at United Park (kick-off 7.45pm).
The Boynesiders won their previous meeting 8-1 at Ferrycarrig Park back in March and apart from thrashing Athlone 7-0 there has been no sign of Wexford’s fortunes improving. Indeed, they conceded eight on their own patch for the second time against UCD only a week ago and have suffered four straight league defeats.
Speaking on Monday afternoon, though, Trim native Clancy insisted that goals might be hard to come by in the tighter confines of United Park.
When it was suggested that he wouldn’t have been happy at not testing Athlone’s 17-year-old debut goalkeeper Darcy Lawless, the manager responded: ‘I think we’re the only team who’ve scored in every game, so I can’t complain about the number of goals in regards to the players.
‘We just have to keep going and doing what we’re doing.
‘We know where we are as a club and the what the expectations are, and we’re not going to set targets for ourselves yet.
‘Playing Wexford gives us a chance to get another three points, but I would imagine it will be more difficult than last time, similar to the Athlone game.
‘It’s a different time in the season and I’d imagine they would be focused this time. That [8-0] game was a freak, a oneoff, when we scored five goals in about 20 minutes, but this will be different.
‘It being a tight pitch we might have to be a bit more patient in regards to getting the first goal, but if we can get one that changes the game because they have to be more expansive and hopefully then that presents us with more opportunities.
‘We beat Wexford before easily and so did UCD, but that could be down to them having off nights and they’ve been competitive in a lot of their games, so we’re not in a position where we just have to turn up and expect to beat teams.
‘But we will do our best to get the three points and that would put us back in the mix again.’
Victory would in fact cut the deficit on leaders UCD back to two points, as the Students have already played their round 12 fixture.
Clancy has a full squad to select from and he acknowledged he had one or two difficult choices to make, with Luke Gallagher pushing to retain his place after being preferred to Lee Duffy in Athlone as the manager opted for a 4-1-3-2 formation.
‘We wanted to get Luke Gallagher back in the team,’ Clancy explained, referring to the different system he employed in the midlands.
‘He has been very good for us this season and we could have done with him against Finn Harps the week before at set-pieces, and he did very well in the second half.
‘I’m not relieved. I think we were the only team who were going to win the game and did more than enough to win it. They had one chance right at the end which probably makes it sound like we got away with it, but that would have been an injustice [if they’d scored].
‘We moved the ball a bit quicker in the second half and I was delighted Chris Lyons got the goal as well.
‘The pitch was not great and they had a lift with Terry [Butler, new manager] going in there and they were a bit more organised.
‘I would not be surprised if they take points off other teams in the next few weeks.
‘It’s a good plus for us that we’re free of injuries and suspensions. It gives me a bit of a headache, but that’s what I’m in the job for, to make these decisions.’