| |
eircom National League
First Division
| Waterford United |
V |
Monaghan United |
| Date |
4/01/2003 |
|
| Score
(Blues First) |
2
- 2 |
| Venue |
RSC,
Waterford |
| Kick
Off |
6.00pm |
| Attendance |
1,600 |
| Weather |
Icy |
| Referee |
D
Hanney |
| Goal
Scorers |
Sullivan,
Murphy |
| Cards |
Red:
Russell Yellow: Breen, Frost, Sullivan |
| Pitch |
Icy hard |
|
Player
|
Rating
|
Comment
|
| Russell |
5
|
sent
off but should have been off his line earlier |
| Leahy |
7
|
Solid
did nothing spectacular |
| Frost |
7
|
battled
well |
| Byrne |
7
|
Played
well again |
| Breen |
7
|
Passed
the ball around well |
| Cosgrove |
7
|
Harshly
substituted |
| O'Brien |
5
|
needs
a break to recharge the batteries |
| Di Lella |
7
|
Has
to play in the middle |
| Fitzgerald |
6
|
His
holding role didn't work in first half |
| Sullivan |
7
|
Should
have scored a second late on |
| Murphy |
8
|
worked
very hard and ran at defence in second half |
| SUBS |
|
|
| Fennelly |
7
|
did
well with every thing he had to do |
| Waters |
7
|
Deserves
a start again and will add balance to left side |
7 points
ahead with four games remaining and a big chance to wrap the league up
before we headed to Ballybofey next Saturday night. An early kick off
of 6pm, a big crowd expected and the match live on WLR fm everything was
set up for the Blues return to the premier Division.
In Newbridge
the previous week we never played in the second half and were lucky to
level Station Road with a point and it is disappointing to report that
we played the first half in the RSC on Saturday night the same way. Looking
at the opening 45 minutes, you would have thought that Monaghan were league
leaders and looking for the points to win the league. Waterford it must
be said were very poor and still couldn't get into the game when the visitor's
were reduced to 10 men after 13 minutes. Nobody in a Blue jersey wanted
to know and their was no movement off the ball. We just couldn't string
three passes together and the first time Mons did this they scored, a
well taken goal it must be said. Then just as we thought things couldn't
get worse Wayne was sent off. Wayne is not a goalkeeper who comes off
his line, we have seen this all season, and on this occasion he was no
quick enough to react to a ball over the top and got to the ball too late.
Whether he made contact or not I can't say, but it did give the referee
an easy decision to dismiss him.
Whatever
Jimmy said at half time worked, the performance after the interval was
brilliant. We took control of the ball, passed it around, got it to our
front men early and actually started to move off the ball to make space
for others. Darryl found himself space in the box and score to bring us
back into the match and Vinny's clever back heel saw us equalise. After
this we had numerous chances to score the winner but missed badly the
main culprit was Kevin O'Brien who drove 4 shots over the bar when in
space from 18 yards out. If these chances had fallen to other players
we would surely have won the match. We must give the players great credit
from their display in the second period, being able to show the home crowd
some fight and determination.
Next we travel
to Ballybofey to face our title contenders Finn Harps. The Blues are 8
points clear at present and a result in Donegal will surely see us promoted.
This it must be said is a great opportunity for the players and management
to show why we are top of the league and to show others for next season
that we can go to ground around the country and get a result. It would
be nice to beat Harps and win the title with 2 games to go. Lets go and
show them we are the best.
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