Buckley blasts Finn Park surface following opening night defeat
FINN HARPS SLIGO ROVERS 1 0
SLIGO Rovers boss Liam Buckley said he had to change his tactics on Friday night as a result of the poor state of the Finn Park pitch.
Rovers were defeated 1-0 by a physical Finn Harps side on the opening night of the season, and Buckley felt that the pitch played its part in the poor game.
He said: “These type of games, you normally walk away with a draw. Probably,
I would have took it at half-time. The state of the pitch.
“I knew before the game started that it was going to affect it. We were trying to pass it, there was no point trying to do it on that pitch so we had to get it forward quickly.
“When you bring in set plays into the picture, if we scored from a set play, bearing in mind ours were poor today, we probably would have won the game 1-0.
“It wasn’t to be, we have to move on. From general play, they had no shots on Ed, I think we had four or five maybe on them.
“We were marginally better. It’s just disappointing to come out with nothing.
“It’s probably a bit of an eye-opener for them (new players) with due respect to us we were fourth from the bottom (last year) they (Harps) were second last year. It’s a tough venue to come to, especially when the pitch is like that. I see a better performance.
“We’ve trained and played better in pre-season than we have tonight. The pitch had a lot to do with that, we had to change our tactics in relation to trying to pass it. Just disappointing that we didn’t get anything out of it.”
Buckley opted for three at the back, which he has done throughout pre-season and he felt that his side dealt well with this new formation.
He wants his side to be more creative now in upcoming games.
“We’ll take the positives out of tonight. We went with three at the back and they didn’t do too bad.
“In general play over 90 minutes they didn’t have any shots. I can’t remember one.
“I thought Niall Morahan (pictured) did quite well. We just need to be more creative in the final third, even if we do get it up early, we need to make sure we get something out of that. We’ll have a look at that.
“I’ve played with three at the back at St. Pats, we played 3-5-2 going back many moons ago.
“All the systems work, you just need people to understand what they’re doing in the systems. I don’t think we did too badly. It was just a stupid set play, a throw in and we give a corner away and it goes back post.”
He felt his side had opportunities to take the lead and later, to equalise, but perhaps didn’t get the luck they required to hit the back of the net.
“Ronan had one, Teemu had a header, Coughlan had a shot down the other end. If it was 0-0, I do find sometimes they go in. When you’re losing 1-0, there’s a little bit of pressure. They’ve scrapped it out, that’s what you have to do. I’m sure it wasn’t a game for the connoisseur.”
It’s only one game out of 36, but Buckley is conscious of how a poor start can affect a whole season.
He is keen for his side to put that first day behind them, particularly as they face a difficult task this weekend as they host St. Patrick’s Athletic at The Showgrounds.
“Every week is a challenge. There won’t be an easy game this season. It is a dog rough league but we just need to pick up quickly. We need to get back in the mix quickly. I don’t want to be off the pace, looking down the table. We want to pick up points early and see how we go.” With such a tight squad as a result of injuries, Buckley did not have too many options on the bench on Friday night. He is hopeful of signing two players before the window closes this Friday; with a striker, believed to be from New Zealand, close to signing on the dotted line.
“I’m looking to get in another one or two. Definitely one, we’ve more or less agreed so hopefully we can get that tidied up. There’s another one, I’ll know in the next few days.
“We definitely need one or two. Lewis Banks, our player of the year last year, was not ready to play tonight although I had him on the bench it was too risky to chance him. John Mahon, and Regan Donelon, they are three defenders. Danny Kane, although he did well tonight is still working on that ankle. Johnny Dunlaevy is coming back from a knee injury. That’s five defenders. I am looking to tidy that up,” he said.
Buckley urged the fans to stick by him and his side as it’s early days yet in the season and they will need all the support they can get.
“I take my hat off to the fans, we must have had a right few hundred here from Sligo watching us. I’m gutted again because we were up here last year and this happened again. It took us a few games to find a little bit of form. There’s a better performance in this group, you just need to stick with us for a few weeks and see how we go from there.”