Drogheda United manager Pete Mahon believes his side were worth more than a point as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Sligo Rovers at United Park. The Drogs had taken the lead through Gareth McCaffrey’s stunning strike but following Kieran Sadlier's
Drogheda United manager Pete Mahon believes his side were worth more than a point as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Sligo Rovers at United Park.
The Drogs had taken the lead through Gareth McCaffrey’s stunning strike but following Kieran Sadlier's missed penalty, Jonah Ayunga headed in the equaliser for the visitors to leave Mahon frustrated.
“I have mixed emotions,” Mahon admitted after the game. “I’m absolutely delighted with the performance but the result isn’t what we wanted, feels like we left two points out there on the pitch.
“I thought we were in the ascendancy all through the game against a full-time team and we just switched off from a corner-kick and they punished us.”
Going up against their former shot-stopper in Michéal Schlingermann, Drogheda were denied on numerous occasions though he was helpless to stop McCaffrey’s opener.
“It was a fantastic goal,” Mahon noted. "We know better than most teams how good of a goalkeeper Michéal Schlingermann is and he had pulled off a marvelous save to deny Stephen Elliott only a couple of minutes earlier.
“We hit the post twice tonight which shows how dominant we were. I would’ve liked the three points but we’ll settle for one.”
Drogheda also welcomed back Killian Brennan from injury with Mahon relieved to have the three-time League of Ireland winner’s ability and experience to call on again.
“He was our big name signing during the off-season. We’ve only had Killian for 45 minutes away to Galway United before his injury so it’s a big boost to get him back on the pitch.
“We have to be patient with him in terms of match fitness but I’ve no doubt that he’s going to be a big player for us this season.”
With the first round of games completed, the Dubliner feels that his side are well on track to achieving their goals having made the difficult adjustment from First Division to Premier Division football.
“Honestly, that’s the points target that we set back in January from these games. I thought we had the chance to surpass it tonight but overall I’m really pleased.
“There were a lot of question marks from others about this squad making the step up but we’ve shown we can compete at this level."
