Pride of Lyons as Drogheda striker nets the priceless goal

CHRIS Lyons was certainly making no apologies for Drogheda’s below-par display as he picked up a belated birthday in the shape of the winning goal in Athlone.

The striker, who turned 25 earlier in the week, popped up with the decisive strike to take his tally to four from eight starts, but for him it was the result that really mattered.

‘It’s great to get a goal to win the game obviously, but great to get the win most importantly. Some of them are going to be ugly games - it’s not going to be all pretty, but we got the three points and we’re out of here with no injuries.

‘Everyone’s happy. The results went our way tonight, as well, so it’s a good night all round for everyone.’

Pressed on whether manager Tim Clancy was satisfied with the overall performance, Lyons insisted he was.

‘The manager is happy, definitely. They’re not always going to be easy, good games to watch. You have to win the scrappy ones as well and we did that tonight.

‘We scraped it at the end there. We were lucky because they had a chance, but you need that bit of luck as well sometimes.

‘We tried out a different formation in the first half, with two up front, and it kind of didn’t suit us. The second half I thought we were a little bit better. We changed back to our normal formation and got the goal, and that was the main thing because once you get into a dogfight here it can be hard to get of.

‘The pitch wasn’t great. I’m not making excuses, but it was hard to play football on it, but we tried and got the result in the end, which was the main thing.’

Attention now turns to this Friday’s visit of Wexford, another team who Drogheda ran riot against in the first series of matches, but Lyons insisted it wouldn’t necessarily be so easy this time round.

‘We were expected to beat these here today by a big score and it was 1-0. It’s not always going to be 3 or 4-0. You get these 1-0 games and they can be the most important ones at the end of the season.

‘Wexford is a massive game for us and hopefully we can get three points at home.’

Despite losing to Galway at the weekend, UCD remain five points ahead of Drogheda, albeit with a game more played, but Lyons isn’t too concerned that the students are building up a head of steam.

‘UCD are only five points ahead now because they lost tonight,’ he pointed out.

‘The results went our way, but everyone is going to pick up results and lose games. That’s how it is in this league. It’s that tight. The top five are all in touching distance. You could lose two in a row and then win two in a row and you’re back up the top.

‘By the end of the second round of the games, that when it might tell a story, but at the moment we just need to concentrate on the next game, the next game, the next game and hopefully we can get three points against Wexford.’

Having scored twice in that drubbing at Ferricarrig Park back in March, there’ll be short odds on Lyons adding to his tally on Friday, but he insisted he hasn’t set himself any goal-scoring targets this season.

‘I just want to keep enjoying my football, and if I score I score,’ he responded.

‘I’m a striker and you want to score, but the manager doesn’t put pressure on me to score. He just wants me to be playing well, linking the play, making runs and making stuff happen. If the goals come, the goals come.

‘I’m feeling good, feeling fit and scoring goals, so that’s a good thing.’