Clancy not taking lowly midlanders for granted
A GAME against Athlone Town is as close as you can get to a home banker in the congested SSE Airtricity League Division 1 table, but try suggesting that to Drogheda United manager Tim Clancy.
The troubled midlanders arrive at United Park on Friday (7.45pm) having lost all 10 of their away games, conceding 45 goals, and their season’s tally of five points includes three awarded after Wexford fielded an ineligible player against them.
In the circumstances, this ought to be an opportunity for Drogheda to boost their goal difference, a factor which may well come into play when the play-off positions are decided. However, even on the back of ending Shelbourne’s unbeaten home record last week, Clancy doesn’t see it that way.
‘Our goal difference is right up there as it is,’ he began, speaking on Monday afternoon, ‘but we’ve seen in the last number of weeks that teams are understanding how we play and it’s up to us to come up with other ideas to create chances and we’ve been doing that.
‘First and foremost, our focus is on doing a professional job and trying to win the game.
‘We’ve had an 8-1, a 5-1 and a 6-0 already this season and you can’t really ask too much more with regards to scoring goals.
‘It will be difficult to do much preparation on them [Athlone], with their personnel changing so often, but we have to try and look after ourselves.’
Last Friday’s 1-0 win at Shelbourne, a resulted that ended the hosts’ 14-match unbeaten run against First Division opposition, came courtesy of another stunning Sean Brennan free kick and the importance of the strike wasn’t lost on Clancy.
‘If we didn’t score we would be sitting fourth, only three points ahead of Galway [and Longford],’ the manager pointed out, ‘so it was a huge win for us.
‘It was another one of Sean’s specials and it was quite close in, so he did really well to get it up and down, but genuinely I feel we deserved it.
‘Without creating too many clear chances, we were the ones doing the pressing, and apart from an Adam Evans 25-yard shot which Paul Skinner did well to save I don’t think they troubled us too much.’
The victory lifted the Drogs back into second place, and with Finn Harps v Shelbourne and UCD v Galway United among the other games this week, victory against Athlone will strengthen their grip on the play-off positions and possibly eat into leaders UCD’s five-point cushion.
So how much does the Drogheda boss study the league and the various permutations?
‘If we could put pressure on UCD and be within touching distance when we play them at home, that would be a massive game, but there’s a lot of football to be played before that,’ he responded.
‘At the start of the season you’d be saying two points a game and you’d be near the top of the league at the end, and UCD are slightly ahead of that now, but two points a game would be an indication.
‘We got 18 points in the first round [nine games] and 16 in the second round, but it’s difficult to maintain that because so many teams are capable of beating each other.’
Clancy hopes Richie Purdy will be available after missing the Shelbourne game with a groin injury, but the manager has one big decision to make - who to lead the attack with as Chris Lyons serves a one-match suspension imposed after his fifth booking of the season and Stephen Meaney remains sidelined through injury.
The most likely replacement is Gareth McCaffrey, who has shown a significant improvement in form in recent weeks, in which case Lee Duffy would be favourite to step up from the bench to play on the right flank.
Another option would be to give recent signing Robert Manley a run, but he has only played a handful of minutes in one substitute appearance so far.
Commenting on the situation, Clancy said: ‘Chris will be a big loss because he’s been exceptional for us in every game, but Gareth has come to the fore in the last month and looked a lot sharper and fitter, so we could possibly play up there.
‘But we’re still looking to get one or two players in this week who could get right into the reckoning.’
•Drogheda United Under-17s have been drawn at home to Finn Harps in the SSE Airtricity U-17 Mark Farren Memorial Cup quarter-finals.
The tie will take place on either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.
At the start of the season you’d be saying two points a game and you’d be near the top of the league at the end, and UCD are slightly ahead of that now, but two points a game would be an indication. We got 18 points in the first round [nine games] and 16 in the second round, but it’s difficult to maintain that because so many teams are capable of beating each other.