With three consecutive league wins under his belt, Gary Cronin is offering a tip of his hat to his many goalscorers - and his groundstaff. Goals have been a source of worry for the Seagulls this season but they yielded nine points from their last th
With three consecutive league wins under his belt, Gary Cronin is offering a tip of his hat to his many goalscorers - and his groundstaff.
Goals have been a source of worry for the Seagulls this season but they yielded nine points from their last three league fixtures and had six different goalscorers in that time.
Nobody in a Bray Wanderers jersey could find the net on Monday evening as the Co. Wicklow side bowed out of the EA Sports Cup to Waterford but for Cronin - who became a father again on Friday - an EA Sports Cup loss will not be the thing keeping him up at night.
"It's our priority (the league). It's easy to say that now but our aim coming into it was to try and get four wins by the end of May in the league which is a really, really tough task because we were playing solid teams and it's a competitive division. We managed to get three wins last week which was fantastic for us and it keeps us in that race.
"The pressure builds when you're an attacking player and you're not putting the ball in the back of the net. We had a conversation about that after the Limerick game because Derek (Daly) himself knows he was guilty of missing a great chance to put us 1-0 up and I feel that if we went ahead there, we'd a great chance of getting something out of the game.
"There wasn't enough (of a threat) from set pieces from our centre halves, there wasn't enough up front from the wide players and since then we've improved on that.
"Hughie scored off a second phase against Galway, Sean Heaney (scored) against Athlone, Derek's chipped in against Athlone and with two goals against Galway.
"It takes more than one player to contribute and we've started to do that now and hopefully we can continue on and grab a goal in Cobh and get a win."
Stephen Henderson's side have already claimed the scalp of Shels in St. Colman's Park so Cronin is under no illusions as regards how big a challenge his side face.
"Nobody enjoys that", Cronin smiles; "and it doesn't get any better the more you go! It's obviously a long trip. As a player, I've gone down there and no matter what's happening in Cobh - whether they're going for the league or having a poor season - no matter what... really tight, really competitive.
"It's a tight pitch and it'll be no different on Friday. No Cobh team I've ever played against have rolled over and I'm not expecting that at all this Friday."
Wanderers got the victory over Cobh on home turf and it is that exact turf that Cronin feels a debt of gratitude towards in recent times.
"Everyone will have their opinions on what way we try and play. We've got to stick to what we believe in and the players we have and you need to have a good ground and a good pitch to be able to do that.
"When I look back on the Wexford game, we came in at 0-0 at half time but some of the play we had...and the way we moved the ball was excellent. I think it's a credit to everybody here that they have that pitch in that state to allow us to do that."
