| Manager upbeat after run of reversals |
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| Thursday, 11 May 2006 | |
 You'd expect to see a haggard, soul-searching Sean Connor the morning after the night before (the league cup exit at the hands of Finn Harps) but the resilient Belfast-man was in good spirits and was looking forward to the challenge of Drogheda United.“I’ll be honest with you, the players are down, feeling sorry for themselves – they’re wounded. I’m the opposite. We’ve had a bad spell yes, but I still believe we are capable of finishing in the top five and I’m determined to do it. “This spell is a test of character and I’ve told the players that reputation is who people think you are, character is who you really are and my team have bags of character and they’re going to prove that. “You don’t become a bad team overnight. We’ve had a couple of bad results. Young teams like ours get great bursts of energy like we did against Shels and Cork. Then for no reason you get a performance like that in Belfield on Saturday. It was totally lethargic, no-one covered themselves in glory. I’m not trying to make excuses, but I think it was a reaction to the Cork game. “Last night they tried to redeem it, and put themselves under a lot of pressure. The penalties didn’t go our way. But that’s life,” he reflected. With form team Drogheda United visiting the Showgrounds on Saturday night, Connor understands the task in hand. “Drogheda are the best team in Ireland at the moment. They’re ‘All-Ireland’ champions, have only conceded a couple of league goals, have a fantastic back four, a couple of under 21 internationals and a great shape about them. “All the pressure will be on them. Everyone expects them to win – they expect to win. From our perspective, we want to see how far off the likes of Drogheda, Cork, Derry and Shels we are. This game is an opportunity to gauge that once again in The Showgrounds,” he concluded Kick-off on Saturday night in The Showgrounds is 7.30pm. By Paraic Casey |
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