Round three of the Last Man Standing competition provided very little shocks over the weekend, so little that just four of the 207 players in Round three were knocked out.

Manchester United and Wolves were by far the top two picks of the weekend, with Wolves easing through while the Manchester United supporters had to sweat a little to get over the line into Round 4.

All players who have reached Round 4 will be contacted directly on Wednesday via email and/or text. For those of you who want to do their homework early, the following are the list of fixtures for Round 4:

Crystal Palace vs Brighton

Cardiff vs West Ham

Huddersfield vs Bournemouth

Leicester vs Fulham

Newcastle vs Everton

Southampton vs Tottenham

Man City vs Watford

Liverpool vs Burnley

Chelsea vs Wolves

Arsenal vs Man Utd

Liam Buckley picked up his first win in charge of Sligo Rovers as the Bit O’Red battled to beat Finn Harps in Ballybofey.

First goals for striker Romeo Parkes and winger Kris Twardek had Rovers in the driving seat.

The Donegal men however, never let their opponents out of sight and pulled one back through Daniel O’Reilly.

Sligo did create chances to put the game to bed, but didn’t require a third as Harps couldn’t fashion an equaliser.

With both sides looking for their first wins of the season, it was the away team who manufactured this contest’s first chance.

The industrious Liam Kerrigan turning his man before firing narrowly over Peter Burke’s goal.

Rovers, who lost skipper Kyle Callan-McFadden mid-way through the half, should have hit the lead on 19.

Parkes latched on to debutant Ronan Murray’s set piece from the wing, but could only nod wide despite finding himself unmarked four yards from goal.

Harps had a chance of their own just 60 seconds later.

Sligo centre half John Mahon allowed a ball bombed forward bounce at the edge of his own area.

Goalkeeper Mitchell Beeney arrived in an effort to salvage the situation but he was beaten to the ball by Nathan Boyle whose attempted lob ended up on the roof of the net.

Buckley’s charges recovered to hit the lead just short of the half hour.

Kris Twardek fed Parkes who timed his run to beat the high Harps line, before taking a touch past Burke and subsequently slotting home for his maiden goal for Rovers.

The second half was four minutes old when Sligo had their second.

Burke had pulled off a smart save to deny Murray’s snapshot but could do little about Twardek’s strike from the resulting corner, which looked to have taken a touch off a defender on its way in.

Ollie Horgan’s men didn’t lie down and halved the deficit on 56.

Loose at the back stick, O’Reilly powered his header past Beeney from a Caolan McAleer corner at the town end of the ground. 

Parkes went close from another headed effort from a Murray free-kick on 78.

While O’Reilly did just enough to divert Dante Leverock’s shot from close range after Jack Keaney’s corner caused trouble in the Harps box.

Finn Harps: Peter Burke; Daniel O’Reilly, Jacob Borg, Keith Cowan; John Kavanagh, Mark Russell (Caolan McAleer 55); Gareth Harkin, Mark Coyle (Niall McGinley 83); Raff Cretaro; Nathan Boyle, Sean Boyd (Mikey Place 79).

Sligo Rovers: Mitchell Beeney; Niall Morahan, John Mahon, Dante Leverock, Lewis Banks; Jack Keaney (David Cawley 87), Kyle Callan-McFadden (Sam Warde 24); Kris Twardek, Ronan Murray (Daryl Fordyce 93), Liam Kerrigan; Romeo Parkes.

Referee: Derek Tomney.

Sligo Rovers take on Finn Harps on Friday night as the Bit O’ Red travel to Finn Park for an eagerly-awaited encounter.

Rovers have one point from the first three matches but have shown positives signs throughout.

Injuries have been a hinderance early in the season and there is mixed news ahead of this game.

Regan Donelon is out with a hamstring problem while Johnny Dunleavy (groin) and Ronan Coughlan (hamstring) will have late fitness tests.

David Cawley returned as a substitute on Monday night having taken little part in pre-season because of a knee problem. 

There is also good news that Ronan Murray returned to training on Thursday and he could join the squad for the first time. A decision will be taken on Friday.

Liam Buckley said: “We’ve lifted ourselves from Monday and had a good couple of days of training, working on some areas we’re looking to improve upon.

“I think you can expect a hard game anywhere you go in this league. It’s a real scrap in every match.

“Finn Harps will not be easier than Pat’s or Cork, and I think that has already been shown. 

“What I want from us is to be better in creating opportunities and remember just how much you need to dig in.

“We didn’t get a reward over the two games last week but that reward will come if we keep working. 

“There is a lot more to come from these players and we want to get the reward on Friday. It’ll only come by earning it.”

We are entering Round three of our Last Man Standing competition this weekend, with Wolves defeat to Huddersfield causing a shock among our entrants and dumping 100 players out of the competition.

We are now down to just 207 players battling it out for the €1,000 prize to be the last person standing. Once the number of players goes below 100, we will be listing the names of the players in the running for the €1,000 and their selections each week on our website. Their previous selections which gets them to the last 100 will also be listed.

Entries for Round three must be made by 9pm tomorrow (Friday) March 1st. Selections can be sent to 086-4554265 or alternatively emailed to shane@sligorovers.com.

The fixtures for Round three are as follows and best of luck to all of the 207 remaining players:

Tottenham vs Arsenal

Bournemouth vs Man City

Brighton vs Huddersfield

Burnley vs Crystal Palace

Man Utd vs Southampton

Wolves vs Cardiff

West Ham vs Newcastle

Watford vs Leicester

Fulham vs Chelsea

Everton vs Liverpool

We would like to extend our thanks to both the Match Sponsors and Match Ball Sponsors from our first two home games of the 2019 season.

The Match Sponsor from our first home game was Marc Mac Sharry TD while the Match Ball was sponsored by the Sligo Branch of the Liverpool Supporters Club.

Last nights home game against Cork City was sponsored by Blaine Gaffney while the Match Ball was sponsored by The Venue Bar & Restaurant Strandhill.

There are a limited number of games available for sponsorship throughout the season. Anybody interested in sponsoring a game are asked to contact the club by emailing administrator@sligorovers.com.

Cork City picked up their first league win of season with a 2-1 win over a gallant Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds.

A Sean McLoughlin header and a wonderful Gearoid Morrisey strike from distance saw City lead comfortably.

Kyle Callan-McFadden pulled one back for Sligo on 63 minutes, but the Bit O’Red were unable to pull an equaliser out of the hat.

Without victory in their opening two games, it was John Caulfield’s men who dictated large portions of this first half and City’s early pressure told just short of the quarter hour.

Dante Leverock could only deflect Shane Griffin’s as far as McLoughlin, who volleyed home from 12 yards.

Rovers, unsettled by an early injury to full back Regan Donelon, failed to test City net minder Mark McNulty in the opening 45.

The closest the hosts came to an equaliser before the break, was when Daryl Fordyce’s opportunistic effort from out wide sailed harmlessly over the Cork goal.

The second half was just four minutes old when the Rebels had their second.

Thirty yards out from the target, and with nothing else on in front of him, Morrisey unleashed a stunning left-footed effort which flew past Rovers stopper Ed McGinty and into the top corner.

Both sides went close at opposing ends before Sligo cut Cork’s lead in half on 65 minutes. Callan-McFadden nodding Jack Keaney’s corner to the net with a determined diving header.

The hosts tried to force an equaliser but Cork held on for their first points of the season.

Sligo Rovers: Ed McGinty; Kyle Callan-McFadden, Dante Leverock, John Mahon; Lewis Banks, Regan Donelon (Niall Morahan 7); Jack Keaney, Daryl Fordyce (David Cawley 66); Kris Twardek, Liam Kerrigan (Sam Warde 66) ; Romeo Parkes.

Cork City: Mark McNulty; Conor McCarthy, Dan Casey, Sean McLoughlin, Shane Griffin; Conor McCormack, Gearoid Morrisey; Garry Buckley, Daire O’Connor (James Tiley 69), Karl Sheppard; Liam Nash (Dan Smith 69).

Referee: Ben Connolly

All at Sligo Rovers were saddened to learn of the recent passing of our life-long supporter, John (Johnny) Kilcolm, Drumee, Ballintogher.

Johnny was a true ‘Bit O’Red’ fan. He was at all Rovers FAI Cup Finals since 1970 and at most home games during the 1977 League of Ireland winning season.

He was also proud to be in attendance when Rovers beat St. Patrick’s Athletic to win the league title in 2012.

Another proud moment for Johnny came in 2010 when on behalf of the club, Conor O’Grady made a special presentation to him to mark his life-long support when Rovers brought the FAI Cup to Ballintogher.

We extend sympathy to his family and many, many friends.

Congratulations to all who have reached Round two of the Sligo Rovers Last Man Standing competition. 

It’s fair to say that Tottenham has left a huge dent in our players, with close on 200 entrants falling at the first hurdle. 

We are back for Round two tomorrow night (Tuesday) and we are asking all players that have qualified for Round Two to submit your selection by 6pm tomorrow (Tuesday). Fixtures are included below for convenience and we wish you all the very best for Round two.

Please note if you have qualified for Round Two the club will be contacting you directly via text and/or email.

Round Two Fixtures:

Huddersfield vs Wolves

Leicester vs Brighton

Cardiff vs Everton 

Chelsea vs Tottenham

Newcastle vs Burnley

Southampton vs Fulham

 Arsenal vs Bournemouth

Crystal Palace vs Man Utd

Liverpool vs Watford

Man City vs West Ham

Sligo Rovers host Cork City on Monday night in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division.

Rovers were beaten 1-0 on Friday by St Patrick’s Athletic as an injury-time goal from Mikey Drennan won it for the Saints.

The Bit O’ Red looked to be on course for a deserved point but now move on looking to bounce back against the Rebels.

To celebrate the launch of our IT Sligo scholarship agreement, all IT Sligo students will gain entry for €5 on the night with this year’s IT Sligo student card.

In injury news, Johnny Dunleavy (groin), David Cawley (knee) and Ronan Murray (ankle) are all doubtful.

Buckley said on the trio: “Johnny had a slight groin strain and we’re not sure on him. It’ll be a late call. David Cawley could potentially make the bench. He is back in training and has the all clear. Ronan Murray rolled his ankle a couple of weeks ago and we’ll do a late call on him too. He is not too far away. Certainly if they don’t make it tomorrow they will make next Friday. We’ll see how we are.”

The Rovers boss reflected on Friday night and two games so far.

“The goal in the last minute killed us. I thought we put in a reasonable shift from a work point of view. There wasn’t a lot between the two teams, I don’t think either deserved to win baring in mind the way the game went.

“We were disappointed we didn’t pick up a point keeping in mind the likes of St Patrick’s Athletic and Dundalk would see themselves as top four teams and we have held our own in both matches so far.

“Looking at the game, Pat’s had a bit of possession and we had a bit of possession. We just need to be better on the ball. I’ll be honest; we haven’t seen the best of this group as of yet because technically they are very good and we just need to stamp our style on the play.

“We’ve emphasised that again on Sunday in relation to playing on Monday. We need to get our personality in the game and if we do get the best out of the lads from a collective point of view I think we’ll have a good season.

“The pre-season we did was great and it’ll be injury-preventitive as well bar knocks. Organisation has been good as well – we’ve discussed that with them – and John Russell has done a bit of work on that. It’s just our creativity, how we are we to win games, where will we get goals from, who is getting them, where the chances are going to be coming from and how we play as an XI that will come.

“We just don’t want it to be by chance. We want to get it all by design. You wouldn’t have seen it at all in the first two games, hopefully on Monday we’ll get a bit more in general play in relation to getting results. We want to get better and play that bit better.”

Over 3,300 fans were in attendance on Friday night and gave great backing to the players.

Buckley said it was appreciated and it’ll help the team as they try to get more points on the board.

“They were fantastic. We are well supported. I was just gutted for them in relation to that goal because two draws against those teams would have been a good start for us but it wasn’t to be. There was a kick of the ball between the two teams, so from our end we have to take the positives and we have to move on and get a result out of Cork.

“We need to improve and we will get that. Hopefully on Monday it’ll be that bit better and each week to come and trust in each other in relation to how we are trying to play.

“There is pressure on every team to win games. It’ll be a dog rough league this year. It’s very competitive. You see Finn Harps also getting a draw from Dundalk.

“From where we are at, I’m not overly concerned about the opposition. I just want to get our team playing better. We need to improve our patterns of play and how we’re trying to win games and put our stamp on the game.”