Drogheda United manager Tim Clancy believes a draw was a fair result as his side played out a stalemate with Shelbourne at United Park. Chances were at a premium on a night where neither side were at their best though Clancy was pleased with Droghe
Drogheda United manager Tim Clancy believes a draw was a fair result as his side played out a stalemate with Shelbourne at United Park.
Chances were at a premium on a night where neither side were at their best though Clancy was pleased with Drogheda’s application and fight against one of the promotion favourites.
“I think it’s a decent result,” the Drogheda boss explained post-match. “We came into tonight’s game with three wins on the bounce so it’s good to extend our unbeaten run against a top side.
“Perhaps the final ball let us down tonight but Shels are a very experienced team who don’t concede often. It was important for us to keep our momentum going.”
Despite controlling long periods of the second-half, the Boynesiders were nearly caught cold on the break as James English’s header was pushed onto the bar by Paul Skinner.
“It looked destined to go in from where I was standing but full credit to Paul. I think that was the one outstanding chance of the game and it took a superb save to keep us level.”
Arguably the biggest positive for Drogheda on the evening was the return of Jake Hyland with the Drogheda captain making his first start since breaking his leg against Shels last October.
“I thought Jake played well. It’s never easy coming back off a long lay-off but you can see the presence he gives us in the middle of the pitch.
"Our squad has been stretched already with some bad injuries so to have someone like Jake available once again is brilliant but we need to be careful.
“We have to build up his match fitness and sharpness but playing an hour tonight is massive for him.”
Despite a rocky start, Drogheda find themselves just a point off top spot and with Bray Wanderers away next week, Clancy is eager to end the first round of games on a high.
“It would be brilliant for us if we could win in Bray next week. To get a positive result to end the first set of games would be a fantastic turnaround considering our slow start.
“We’ll go and watch Bray play Longford on Saturday night to make sure that we're fully prepared for another massive game next week.”
