Match Reports - Drogheda United
Rovers 1 Drogheda United 0 Danny O'Leary: One save to make which he handled well. 6 Lee Marshall: Still with the team, in spite of the rumours !! 6 Ray Mc Loughlin: Good, with little defensive work to do. 6 Michael Mc Namara: Good going forward. 7 Johnny Davey: Big heart for a little man, MOTM. 7.5 Damien Kennedy: Solid Performer. 6 Steve Feeney : Showed some continental style skills. 6 Carl Van Der Velden: Should run riot against opposition like this.5 Ian Gilzean: Got his goal, eventually. 6 Padraig Moran: Needs to be in a big squad so that he can be used sparingly. 5 Rovers 2 Drogheda United 0 Danny O'Leary: Made two excellent saves at key moments. 7 Ian Rossiter: Exposed a couple of times in defence but had a couple of decent efforts going forward. 6 Ray Mc Loughlin: Contributed a lot going forward. 7 Michael Mc Namara: A rock in the centre of defence. 7 Raphael Cretaro : A quiet game by his standards. 6 Jim Sheridan: Solid defensively and moved into midfield frequently to start attacks. 7 Steve Birks: Mr consistency and Mr Lionheart, irreplaceable this season. 8 John Jordan : Was the executioner in this game. Hopefully his injury is not too serious and we will see him back in a red shirt soon. MOTM 9 Carl Van Der Velden: He remains an enigma, pure talent mixed with a worrying dark side ! 6 Ian Gilzean: Contributed very little in open play but is always a threat from set-pieces. 6 Padraig Moran: On recent form you can't help wondering if Padraig is past his best. 5 David O'Dowd for John Jordan: One of his better games, looked very lively. 5 Damien Kennedy for Ian Rossiter: Looked very assured. 5 Steve Feeney for Raphael Cretaro: Not much time to make an impression but the word on the street is that this young lad has a great future in front of him. 5 Drogheda United 0 Rovers 1 Drogheda United 1 Rovers 3
Player Ratings:
Lee Marshall: Has been a revelation this season - another excellent game. (8) Michael Mc Namara: Dominated in the air - continues to improve and justify his place in the team. (7) Wesley Charles: With Mc Namara completely snuffed out the Drogheda strikers (7) Ray Mc Laughlin: Very solid defensively but his distribution let him down at times - should have scored (7) Aubrey Dolan: Probably his best game for Rovers so far - was instrumental in Rovers midfield dominance. (7) Peter Rogers: A reasonable performance until substituted, he seemed to be injured because Cassidy indicated to him that he had five minutes before he was taken off. (6) Carel Van Der Velden: Just about shaded Lee Marshall for the MOTM. He has terrific skill but if there is a criticism it is that he has a tendency to showboat - had a great game tonight, though. MOTM (8.5) Michael Zaalman: Some bright moments but he was pushed and shoved all over the place. (6) Steve Birks: He is playing reasonably well as a center forward - he certainly makes the opposition defence work !! (7) Padraig Moran: Like Paul said last week he's not at his best - but even so he is without doubt the best striker in this league. (7) Subs: Ian Rossiter: Played in an unfamiliar right side of midfield position and did reasonably well in the time he was on the pitch - was unlucky not to score. (7) Unused: Peyton, Kennedy, Lynch, Cretaro.
Sligo Rovers Main Page
After a disastrous week Rovers badly needed a win against bottom of the table Drogheda United, but
their failure to score a few goals against a poor Drogheda team has probably cost them any chance of an automatic promotion place, because if Monaghan win against an under-strength Limerick team at the weekend only goal-difference could send Rovers up. Rovers did start with a depleted team, with Steve Feeney making his debut in the Rovers colours. But Rovers could and should have had the perfect start, after five minutes, Cretaro, with a long ball, sent Moran free in the box, but Rovers leading scorer shot wide with only the keeper to beat. Rovers continued to dominate the first half but annoyingly their attack's broke down before they could threaten the Drogheda goal and long range shot's from Cretaro and Feeney were all they could manage before the Drogheda started to come into the game near the end of the first half.
They couldn't even get close enough to the Rovers goal to have a shot, but they were almost sharing possession by the end of the half. Rovers started the second half with more urgency and it always looked like a goal would come, but Rovers needed a hatful of goals to give themselves an advantage over Monaghan before the final game of the season on Saturday, and in-truth they should have had them, with players like Van Der Velden,
Gilzean and Padraig Moran on the field. They alone should have run riot against such poor opposition, but Rovers still struggled to create any clear cut chances. Ray McLoughlin had the first chance of the second half, Van Der Velden's 52 minute free-kick was headed down by Gilzean, but McLoughlin
effort was saved by the Drogheda keeper, Warfield. Next up was the excellent Cretaro, making another run from midfield into the box, but he couldn't keep his shot down and the ball went harmlessly over the bar. Then after 67 minutes Van Der Velden and Gilzean finally came up with something to justify
their existence, Van Der Velden was taken down outside the box, and after wasting a number of free-kicks, he floated this one in to the box and on to
Gilzean's head. And he beat the keeper from 8 yards to give Rovers some hope for the weekend.
Rovers kept pushing forward looking for the goals that would take them above Monaghan, McLoughlin had another chance, Gilzean got
the ball at the near post and knocked it back to the incoming Mayo man but his shot was blocked. Steve Feeney then showed some continental style skill
with a turn on the ball and a shot on target which the keeper held comfortably. Incredibly though Drogheda finished the game on top, putting Rovers under pressure as they pushed forward looking for an equaliser, they had a number of corners and at one stage tried to take one from both sides, maybe they hoped for more than a draw. Anyway Danny O'Leary had to make an excellent save at the death from Drogheda first shot on goal, but at least Rovers still go into the last game of the season, apart from maybe the play-off's, with some hope for promotion. The weekends First Division fixture list is now set up for a quite extraordinary finish.
Raphael Cretaro :
27-Apr-01
At the beginninig of a crucial two week period a win against the team bottom of the table was vital if Rovers were to continue their push for promotion. The win was achieved efficiently, if not spectacularly. At this critical phase of the season there are no extra points handed out for style and in the end the manager sensibly used all his substitutes with a hectic run of matches to come. The win came at a price though with striker John Jordan forced to retire from the game with an injury after winning the penalty for the second goal. Jordan has been in fine form lately and is a player Rovers cannot afford to lose for the remaining games. Rovers started the game brightly and forced Drogheda back on the defensive. Rovers forced a couple of corners in this period and when the second of these was only half cleared Mc Laughlin played the ball to Gilzean on the left edge of the box. He helped the ball on to Jordan and he cut inside the defence before beating Warfield with a low shot. The goal should have relaxed Rovers and maybe they relaxed too much as O'Leary had to make a brave save at the feet of Quinless as Drogheda exposed laziness in the Rovers defence.
Jordan then had a decent shout for a penalty when he seemed to be pushed in the box by the Drogheda centre half but the referee was having none of it. Gilzean thought he had put Rovers further in front when another badly cleared corner fell to him inside the box. His shot was deflected past Warfield but the linesman had his flag up for an offside in the box. Ian Gilzean and Padraig Moran then combined in the box and Moran's lob beat the keeper and was hooked off the line by a defender. Ian Rossiter then had a scorcher of a shot from 30 yards which was always rising and went two yards over the bar. At the other end Rovers defence switched off and were almost exposed by Quinless but O'Leary had to make another fine save to preserve their lead. Rovers finished the half on top and Cretaro finished a fine run with a shot straight at the United keeper from the edge of the box.
The second half started with the rain pouring down on the Showgrounds but the home side were well on top in the game. The half was less than ten minutes old when the game ended as a contest. John Jordan chased a backpass to the keeper and got a block on the attempted clearance. The ball looped across the box and Jordan was the quickest and reached it first. He sidestepped the keeper only to be hacked down before he could reach, what would have been a tap-in from ten yards. Warfield received a red card for his troubles but more worrying for the crowd was the fact that Jordan lay motionless on the ground for a long time. With his team-mates calling for a stretcher things did not look good for the striker. Thankfully he eventually got back on his feet and went back on the pitch for a couple of minutes before he was substituted in obvious discomfort. In the meantime Van Der Velden placed the ball on the spot and beat the subsitute keeper with a low shot, although the keeper did get his hand to the ball. Two-nil down and reduced to ten men that was the end of Drogheda's threat.
Rovers went into cruise mode after this, maybe mindful that there were now bigger battles lying ahead. Even so they did create a number of chances. Ray Mc Laughlin went on a fine run in the inside left channel beating two defenders before firing a shot which beat the keeper but went just past the post. Then Gilzean got free on the left and played a terrific ball across the penalty area but it was just about a foot and a half too far in front of Cretaro and he couldn't apply the finish. The same players combined again shortly afterwards. This time Gilzeans cross found Cretaro at the far post but the young midfielders low shot went a couple of feet past the post. Gilzean himself then had a header blocked with some of the crowd shouting for a penalty for handball. Rovers strolled through the rest of the game with the supporters at the station end indulging in a sing-song not seen at the Showgrounds for a while. The news that Athlone had lost to Dundalk and Monaghan had dropped two points at home gave Rovers promotion push a huge boost.
Subs:
11-Feb-00
Rovers picked up their second win in a row at United Park in Drogheda last Saturday night, but they were far from convincing. Bottom of the table Drogheda completely dominated a poor Sligo Rovers team in the first half of this division one game at United park. Rovers didn't
have a shot on goal in the whole 45mins. After two minutes Mark Quinnless had a shot just inches wide of Danny O' Leary's right-hand up-right, Quinnless turned provider for Drogheda after 10mins with Ian Gilzean clearing off the line. After 15mins John Butler's
poor corner missed everybody in the box & had to be cleared off the line by a Sligo defender. Moments later Barry Cooney a young Drogheda striker, raced onto a clearance from goal by keeper Carl Warfield & ran at the Sligo defence but was dispossessed by Ray McLoughlin, who saved the day for Rovers at the last minute. Drogheda continued to dominate without creating any real chances. On the half hour mark a free-kick by Cronin was cleared over the bar by the head of Michael McNamara. After 37mins another a Cronin free was pushed away by Rovers Keeper O'Leary after coming off the head off Jim Sheridan. On the 40 minute mark, Quinnless picked the ball up from a corner & his curling shot went just over the angle of post & bar.
Drogheda lost their keeper Carl Warfield after 33mins when he fell heavily on an old hip injury & was replaced by Justin O'Neill. One yellow card in
the first half for Drogheda Mark Grogan on 23mins for a heavy foul on Steve Birks. A heavy pitch at United park cut up badly during the half, a lot of ran fell during the day but it had stopped by kick-off time.
So a lot for Tommy Cassidy to do at the interval & whatever he said worked as Rovers took the lead after six minutes of the restart. Ian Gilzean profiting from some awful Drogheda defending. A ball through the centre hopping over centre-half Kieran Donnelley, Justin O'Neill the Drogheda
keeper coming off his line making a mess of it, Gilzean gaining possession turning inside & hitting the ball past the helpless Stuart Smith on the
Drogheda goal line. Rovers had the ball in the net a couple of minutes before that, a corner on the right from Padraig Moran, headed in by Jim
Sheridan, the referee disallowing it for pushing in the box on a Drogheda defender. Rovers should have been two up three minutes later when another
Moran corner was headed off the cross-bar by John Jordan, who rose highest, the ball cracked off the cross-bar & over with the Drogheda goal living a
charmed life at that stage. The game got scrappier after this. Drogheda got a chance for an equaliser on 73mins when Bernard Bradley
breaking down the right wing, going right to the by-line & crossing for Stuart Reynolds to head over from point-blank range when it seemed easier to
score.
Padraig Moran did hit the cross-bar straight from a corner, with the Drogheda reserve keeper struggling underneath. Rovers finished well with
Rafael Cretaro having a 25yard drive turned just over the bar, brilliantly by O'Neill with three minutes to go & then on the stroke of full time David
O'Dowd the sub breaking through on goal, but a Drogheda defender made a last gasp tackle saving the day for the home side.So a fortunate win for Rover's, but three points nonetheless as they push for the promotion play-off place.
15-Sep-00
Rovers needed to get back to winning ways after last weekend's disappointing result in Waterford and they picked up the three points comfortably in this game at United Park last night. Rovers played in their new all-white away kit and they knocked the ball around well in a very entertaining first half. The first chance of the game came from a free kick on the edge of the box. Dolan and Zaalman stood over the ball and when they rolled it sideways for Van Der Velden the Dutchman was asleep and had to make up too much ground. This resulted in a quick breakaway for United which was eventually stopped by Lee Marshall. Zaalman then whipped in a dangerous cross which had the keeper struggling. He could only push the ball out towards the waiting Van Der Velden, but he had the ball taken off his toe as he was lining up the shot. When they got a second free kick in a similar position on 15 minutes Rovers showed that they had learned their lesson. This time Carel Van Der Velden was wide awake and he made no mistake. The free kick was about 22 yards out and pretty central and the Dutchman curled the ball over the wall and into the left corner with the keeper, O'Neill, rooted to his line. United's response was a long range shot from Quinless which O'Leary dealt with comfortably. Rovers continued to dominate the game and went two up about ten minutes later. Moran won a free kick on the right wing and when Van Der Velden
whipped in a viscious cross Rovers top striker got his head to the ball first. The header wasn't the most powerful but it looped over the keeper and into the far corner.
Rovers had a couple of good chances in the remainder of the first half which all seemed to revolve around Van Der
Velden free kicks. First after a quick free kick with Zaalman he set up Moran with a clever pass inside the defence but Moran couldn't get his foot around the ball and his shot went into the side netting. Then another clever combination between Dolan and Zaalman from a free kick set up Van Der Velden for a stinging shot which O'Neill could not hold onto but the ball squirmed
away for a corner. The corner was too long but it was retrieved by Van Der Velden who produced a great cross which took the keeper out of the game. Moran was waiting to pounce but he had the ball taken off his head by a defender. United's last contribution to the first half was another long range shot from Quinless which didn't really trouble O'Leary. One of
the more amusing incidents in the first half was the sight of Michael Zaalman squaring up to a Drogheda defender who was at least three times bigger than him.
The second half wasn't as good, in fact it was very scrappy for the most part, but it still had it's fair share of incidents. Rovers continued to dominate the game and had a couple of early chances. First Van Der Velden brought a
good save from O'Neill when his dipping free kick was touched away by the keeper just under the crossbar. Then Moran was put through by Birks but he had a defender leaning on him and his shot went just wide with O'Neill beaten. Then Rovers scored a third in a very familiar fashion for this season. A Zaalman corner from the right was flicked on at the near
post by Dolan, and Moran had a tap in at the far post for his seventh goal of the season. Ian
Rossiter almost made it four shortly afterwards with a shot from the edge of the box but the
keeper went full length to save brilliantly. Drogheda had failed to clear a throw in in the corner and Rossiter was lurking on the edge of the box. Then Drogheda created a pretty good goal of their own. A break down the right wing and a low cross found
Cronin at the far post and he hooked the ball past O'Leary, who was a spectator for most of the game. Rovers response was immediate and how Ray Mc Laughlin didn't make it four is a mystery. Van Der Velden and Zaalman worked a super short corner on the left and when Zaalman beat the defender and picked out Mc Laughlin at the near post it looked all over for Drogheda. Though he
made good contact with the shot it scraped the paint off the top of the
crossbar with the keeper well beaten.
Drogheda United then had a half chance as Maher rose above the Rovers defence to head a corner over the bar. After that Rovers had a couple of half chances and in particular Padraig Moran had a couple of chances for his hat-trick. Then Rovers hit United with a quick break and Zaalman sold the defence a great dummy. He elected to try and lob the keeper from 45 yards but his shot was too weak and was gathered easily by O'Neill. The last major talking point was a decent shout for a penalty in injury time as Mc Namara went for
the ball in the box with Cronin. Both players went down and the home crowd pleaded for the spot kick. To be honest, if it had been given, Rovers could have had no complaints but the ref wasn't interested. Three points away from
home on a night when Athlone Town and Dundalk drew in the top of the table clash. Not a bad night's work.
Danny O'Leary: Hadn't a whole lot to do (6)
