After a fractious but thoroughly absorbing night in the Showgrounds the first question that springs to mind is ‘where to begin?’ Firstly it may be no harm to debunk a myth that floated around for a time in the press box immediately after the game. The idea that Drogheda United deserved anything from the game. They really didn’t. Drogheda took the lead and created little after that and created even less after Ross Gaynor’s ridiculous sending off. Rovers considering their numerical disadvantage dominated the game and thoroughly deserved their lead when Aaron Greene slotted home on 90 minutes.
This was a Rovers we haven’t seen terribly often this year in the Airtricity league. Apart from the listless defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic we haven’t witnessed Rovers v Adversity. 1-0 down at the break with their top scorer misfiring and a decent away team not allowing them to get into a rhythm Rovers really rose to each and every challenge in the second half. Joey Ndo may have been a little bit rusty at times but he certainly seemed to liberate Cawley and Lynch in the midfield, an area which Rovers totally dominated. His ability to keep the ball and release wide players was crucial in particular when Rovers went down to 10 men.
Ross Gaynor’s sending off clearly incensed both manager and player but neither were forthcoming in the post match interviews about what exactly happened. All we can deduce is that Gaynor may have made some gesture toward the away fans in the Jinks avenue stand and was sent off by referee Anthony Buttimer for said interaction. While no player should get involved with the fans in such a manner the Drogheda fans were clearly looking for a more ‘active’ part in proceedings all night long. It may be logistically awkward but if there was a way to house the away fans somewhere else it should be investigated as in their current home they are too close to the pitch and players, leaving the way open for the more troublesome elements of the away support to wreak havoc.
Rovers work very hard after the sending off and at long last we saw some indication as to why Kieran Djilali was brought to the club. His slaloming late burst set up what we all thought would be Rovers equalizer from Aaron Greene and he certainly gave Drogs more to think about than the ineffective Millien. Drogs equalizer was disappointing considering the graft and endeavor Rovers had shown. The manager noted this fight as a positive in his post match comments: ‘At 10 men we could have downed tools, given ourselves excuses and said ‘it’s not our night’ but we didn’t and that’s a great quality to have’.
Rovers showed much quality on Saturday night, much more than their opponents but in the final third you get the feeling that they long for the return of Raf Cretaro and Danny North. Anthony Elding’s goalscoring has been superb but he needs a partner that can offer something different to the Rovers creative forces of Ndo, Lynch, Cawley and Cretaro. North fits that bill perfectly.
Tempers were frayed all around the Showgrounds on Saturday night but it was refreshing to see that Ian Barraclough kept the coolest of heads in the heat of battle. Experience has thought him no doubt that Saturday night was only one of many battles to be faced in what is fast becoming a very engaging season.
No comments:
Post a Comment