| Pivotal day in manager's tenure at Showgrounds |
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| Wednesday, 07 June 2006 | |
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"It's a pivotal day in my tenure at Sligo Rovers".The words of manager Sean Connor after seeing his side record an impressive 3-1 victory over Longford Town last Saturday night. The Belfast native was clearly delighted with his sides performance, describing the beginning of the 2nd half as "the best 20 minutes we have played in a long long while" He added,"we've been threatening a performance like that for a while, everything has gone for us tonight. They are a good side....for the last 3 or 4 seasons Longford have been the team knocking on the door and I said when I got here and when we got up that they would be the barometer. We've matched that - we're nearly there" The manager was full of praise for the goalscorers, Darren Mansaram and Keith Foy. He gave this assessment of Mansaram "The first goal was a wonderstrike. I see him do that a lot in training. I have always said as soon as I get him fit and he gets 4 or 5 games under his belt he has the potential to be the best striker in the league. The kid has so much ability. The 2nd goal was a good strikers finish. Keith Foy: "Foyzer’s been fantastic. He's the only player I signed from the Eircom League. I saw a lot in Keith last year and he has not let me down this year. His penalty strike was quality." At one stage Rovers were 3-0 up but a great strike by Longford sub Dave Mooney reduced the defecit. Connor was not too disappointed with conceding a consolation goal. "The game opened up, it was end to end and they were always going to get chances. Maybe we could have been more clinical in our defending. I hear a lot about them having a young team, but our average age is just over 21. We have a lot of young players who maybe got ahead of themselves and got a bit enthusiastic because they were 3-0 up. In a year or so we will be more ruthless" Rovers go into the "world cup break in 6th place, having earned 14 points, its a position and a total that pleases the man in charge. "We have jumped 3 places tonight - my target was 12 points from the first 11 games. Thats 14 now. Its magnificent and if we win that extra game against Bray, then that’s a fantastic return for our first year back in the Premier Division" The result maintains Rovers' proud home record, their last league defeat was last July. In contrast however the bit o' red have failed to claim an away victory in the league this season, something which is clearly frustrating Connor. The next opportunity to break this record isn't until June 23rd on account of the World cup break, which again the Rovers manager is frustrated with. "I cant explain why we cant win away from home when we play like that. I am genuine when I say this, I am not looking forward to the break because we are beginning to find our feet as a team. We are beginning to play with each other. That’s our 11th game as a side and I think you can see the work on the training ground is paying off and we are beginning to look like a team" Connor is looking to add to his squad in the upcoming transfer window in July, he had this to say on the matter. "I have got players lined up, I have met them and it is now up to my board to release money for them." by Rory Houston |
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