Sligo Rovers captain Rhys McCabe says the club’s less than ideal preparations were a telling factor in their Irn Bru Scottish Cup defeat to Motherwell Colts. Rovers didn’t arrive in Glasgow until 10am on Saturday morning. Just five hours before kic
Sligo Rovers captain Rhys McCabe says the club’s less than ideal preparations were a telling factor in their Irn Bru Scottish Cup defeat to Motherwell Colts. Rovers didn’t arrive in Glasgow until 10am on Saturday morning. Just five hours before kick-off. A problem with the plane which was due to leave Derry at 3pm on Friday, meaning the squad had to stay locally overnight, before flying out at 9am Saturday morning. A clearly jaded Bit O’Red fell behind to a Paddy McClean own goal. While Christian Mbulu’s second half strike sealed the win for the young Scots. McCabe says the build up hampered Rovers’ hopes. “It didn’t help. Obviously you expect professional footballers to perform at a professional level and give their best. “But when preparations aren’t up to standard and you’re up at 5am, getting on a flight and you’re expected to give that same level of enthusiasm. You don’t get the same standards. “But we can’t take anything away from Motherwell. They played well and knocked it about well. As a group we didn’t perform but had we had a good night’s rest, I could almost guarantee you the performance would have been a whole lot better. “There was a lack of concentration, maybe mental fatigue played its part. But on another day it would have been a closer game.” Rovers’ next game is a trip to Oriel Park to take on champions Dundalk on Friday. Although already safe from relegation, McCabe wants his Sligo side to finish 2018 in positive fashion. ‘We have to move on now”, McCabe stated. “We still want to finish as high as possible. So we’ve got to be professional and try and finish on a high.”
