Rovers see off Drogheda Utd
SLIGO Rovers needed a last minute winner to overcome First Division side Drogheda United in their second pre-season friendly at United Park on Thursday evening last.
Darragh Noone put Rovers ahead just after the half hour mark, with the hosts levelling matters on 75 minutes.
Kyle Callan-McFadden headed a corner into the back of the Drogheda goals in the dying seconds to give Rovers the victory.
In their previous pre-season outing, Liam Buckley’s side were held to a 3-3 draw with Galway United.
Johnny Dunleavy and Danny Kane were left out as a precaution, while Will Seymore was left on the bench also as a precaution.
Lewis Banks remains sidelined with injury, while Ronan Murray appeared on the bench on Thursday night as he recovers from a minor procedure he underwent before Christmas.
Buckley handed a start to trialist Jesse Devers, who scored in the 3-3 draw with Galway.
Conditions were difficult in the Louth venue due to thick fog, with visibility poor.
Noone was first up to try his luck for Rovers, but his effort was saved.
Former Rovers man Chris Lyons forced a save from Luke McNicholas in the Rovers goals before Lyons’ effort went over the bar after a goal-line clearance from Callan-McFadden.
Jesse Devers’ decent effort was saved before the Mayo man set up Coughlan, whose effort was headed for the top corner, until Odumusu kept it out with a great save.
Noone gave Rovers the lead around 32 minutes in as he sent it into the bottom corner.
The Bit O’Red were well in control as half-time neared, and started the second-half well, but Tim Clancy’s men soon found their feet.
Two big saves from Ed McGinty kept Drogheda at bay, but only until the 75th minute when Ademayo finally beat the former Celtic man to make it 1-1.
And in the dying seconds, David Cawley’s corner was nodded in by Kyle Callan-McFadden, to earn a victory for Rovers.
Tonight (Tuesday), Liam Buckley’s side travel to Fermanagh to take on Ballinamallard United at Ferney Park.
SPEAKING after Thursday night’s victory, manager Liam Buckley said: “Drogheda are decent, they’ll be competing at the top end of the First Division for sure. A draw probably would have been a fair result, thought we got a late goal through Kyle. A good workout from where we’re at.
“In fairness to Drogheda they pass it well. They outplayed us at times in the first-half. Overall I’m pleased with where we’re at. We still have a bit of work to do fitness wise, we’re down one or two bodies and that’s just precautionary. We’re getting there.”
Buckley opted once again to go with the 3-5-2 formation that he trialled in the previous outing against Galway.
He feels that there is still some work to be done in order to get that formation right.
He said: “We’ve done a 3-5-2 over the last couple of games and we’re just seeing how that’s going. They’ve improved, I thought it was a bit better tonight than the previous day against Galway. There’s a bit of work to be done with the group on that.
“We’re still working on fitness, we are fatiguing them on particular days and it’s very awkward trying to fit a match in when you’re trying to do that over a programme of six weeks.”
Buckley stressed the importance of being cautious with players who are carrying knocks in pre-season.
“One or two of the lads have knocks. You need to be careful in pre-season. Lewis has a slight groin injury, hopefully he will be OK for Ballinamallard on
Tuesday. Johnny Dunleavy has a bit of a knee issue going on.
“Danny Kane had a slight ankle (injury) going on. As a group, we’re getting through pre-season. Hopefully we can get them all a clean bill of health.
“Ballinamallard on Tuesday, we look forward to that. We’ll have a look, we’ll reflect back on tonight’s game, what we did well and what we didn’t. We’ll try and improve that for Tuesday.”
Buckley’s quest for a centre forward continues, while a decision is yet to be made on Jesse Devers.
“We have had Jesse Devers in with us the last couple of weeks and he has done quite well. We’re still looking for another centre-forward.”