Rovers will travel to Inchicore ‘ with confidence’ says Cretaro
SLIGO Rovers stalwart Raffaele Cretaro echoed the sentiments of his manager on following Friday night’s defeat to champions Dundalk at Oriel Park.
The Bit O’Red held their own for t he first 45 minutes on Friday night, but succumbed to Dundalk pressure on 54 minutes when the Lilywhites took the lead.
“It was a very good 45 minutes from us. We knew we were going to get a backlash from them, we matched it for a long period,” said Cretaro ( pictured)
Stephen Kenny’s side doubled their lead on 72 minutes before conceding twice in injury time.
The Tubbercurry native conceded that heads dropped when Dundalk went ahead, and matters became all the more difficult for Rovers then.
“After the first goal we probably dropped our heads a little bit.
“The second goal came then and we were kind of chasing the game then and when you’re chasing the game you leave yourself open and as you can see we’ve conceded two late goals,” he said.
Cretaro did have the ball in the net at one stage, but referee Graham Kelly ruled it out.
“I pulled the trigger with the hope of hitting the net and obviously just as I hit it the whistle went.
“Unfortunately it was ruled out. It would have given us a great base going into the second half.
“Credit to Dundalk they came out in the second half and made us work really hard,” he said.
Rovers’ performances have improved of late, most notably picking up a crucial victory against Limerick at The Showgrounds the previous week.
And Cretaro wants to see a pos- itive reaction from his team- mates this week ahead of a crucial meeting with St. Patrick’s Athletic this Friday evening.
“Dundalk are a good side but our performances are getting better. We were hoping to build on last week but we move on and look for a positive reaction.
“We’ll work hard for the game against St. Pats on Friday night.”
The 35- year- old has assured fans that he and his team- mates will work hard in training all week to put things right again.
“Pats, no more than ourselves, are a decent side.
“Any of Liam Buckley’s teams play football but we go there with confidence.
“We know if we put in the work, which we will from Monday to Friday, if we put the work in we’ll get the result that we’re looking for.”
Rovers face a St. Patrick’s Athletic side on Friday evening who have also had to contend with the topic of relegation in the early stages of this season.
Liam Buckley’s men have improved their form lately, though, and are currently level on points with Rovers in the table.
Their previous meeting this season saw both sides pick up their first points of the year, drawing 1- 1 at The Showgrounds back in March.