Cork City manager Neale Fenn admitted he felt sick after seeing his side concede two late goals in their 2-1 defeat to Waterford in the Munster Derby at Turner’s Cross on Monday night. Daire O’Connor’s stunning strike had City on course for their fi
Cork City manager Neale Fenn admitted he felt sick after seeing his side concede two late goals in their 2-1 defeat to Waterford in the Munster Derby at Turner’s Cross on Monday night.
Daire O’Connor’s stunning strike had City on course for their first win under their new boss but goals from Maxim Kouogun and Walter Figueira in the closing stages was enough to see Waterford snatch the three points.
Fenn has now lost both his games in charge of the Leesiders and speaking to reporters shortly after full time he was quick to lament his side’s defending.
“I feel sick,” admitted Fenn.
“The game was there for us. I felt we were going to see it out but again we just conceded some bad goals and obviously lost the game.
“I am sick of talking about positives, I think we just get down to the negatives and start saying what the negatives are. We need to sort this out, the defending is shocking. For the six goals we have conceded in my two games it was just shocking defending all over.
“Counter attacking means you win the ball deep and counter-attack but they have won the ball high, we gave the ball away they haven’t even won it. The first goal was a free header six yards out centre back, that is criminal defending. You are thought that as a young kid you mark some in the box you don’t leave anyone free in the box that is basic stuff.
“The lads are where they are in the league because of whatever reason. Whether it’s just that they are not good enough, whether they are low on confidence, whether they’re not organised I don’t know, whether they’re not fit enough I’m not sure.
“It has been hard for me to assess it really because we have only probably had two training sessions since I got here so it’s been tough trying to do any sort of shape with games coming thick and fast.
The result sees City drop to eighth in the league table and seven points above Finn Harps, who occupy the final relegation place, having now played the same number of matches.
Asked if that defeat now means the club is in a battle with Harps to avoid relegation Fenn admitted; “Yeah, of course it does.
“We need to win matches. We’re going to Dundalk on Friday and we’ve lost two games in a row. We are going to the team that is a lot of points clear at the top of the league so it’s not looking good for us if we keep defending like that.”
