Baraclough praises Sligo support after home win

Sligo Rovers continued their unbeaten start to the season on Saturday evening as they recorded a 2-0 win over struggling Shelbourne at The Showgrounds.

Speaking to the assembled press after the game, Ian Baraclough praised Jeff Henderson who has stepped into the starting line-up in place of the injured Gavin Peers and has kept three consecutive clean sheets in that time.

"Gavin was fit to play tonight and Jeff has put performances in where it's telling me that he wants to stay in the side. Gavin is a big player for us and has been for the last eight seasons and he knows he will have to just bide his time and it will allow him a little more time to get his hamstring right.

"It gives me big questions but Jeff has put in solid performances but we are going to need him, Evan (McMillan) and Gavin for the rest of the season."

Follow calls for a big attendance at the home of the champions for the weekend's game, the fans responded as the club recorded an attendance of 3,158 on the night. Baraclough has encouraged fans to keep these numbers up and both the squad and staff fully appreciate it.

"People are wondering what's happening here again and  if we can repeat what we did last year. To get over 3,100 people tonight was phenomenal and hopefully they haven't gone home frustrated. There is a lot more to come, keep coming as the lads appreciate and I certainly appreciate the support. A Saturday night at home in The Showgrounds, there's no better place to be in this country and we need the backing as everyone fully appreciates it."

To the surprise of some fans, Lee Lynch was taken off at half-time and replaced by Danny Ventre. Ian confirmed he had suffered a dead leg and wouldn't be risked for another 45 minutes.

"(Lynch) went off with a dead leg. There was no need to take a chance on it, he couldn't get full flexion on it and it was inhibiting his running so we took him off, Danny Ventre came in and got 45 minutes which will help him."

Following a rare under-performance against UCD on Monday, Anthony Elding looked back to his usual self on Saturday has he scored both goals for the home side, but unusually, neither of them were with his head.

"It was great to see (Elding) get two tonight, it shows he's in the right place again and I think that was two with his feet tonight. I actually gave him stick earlier in the week that he only scores with his head!

"It shows the importance of having a goalscorer in your team and I thought the cross from Raf Cretaro for the first goal was taken well, it could so easily have been misplaced without any care and it was a good finish to what was a great move. We can be incisive but broke down too many times tonight, however, we will take the 2-0 win, we know there's more to come and we will see just how much more there is to come."