Cooke pleased with performance despite defeat

It was ‘another day, another defeat’ for Athlone Town on Friday night as they succumbed to their fourth straight loss of the season.

It’s fair to say that the Westmeath side haven’t had the kindest of starts though, as they have already faced the top two in Shamrock Rovers and Cork City, as well as last season’s FAI Cup winners Sligo Rovers.

If the game was billed as ‘top versus bottom’ though, those not familiar to the league would have struggled to differentiate in the first half which was which, as the ball resided in the Cork City half for large spells. For all their possession, Athlone Town lacked the final cutting edge as they failed to make their numerous set pieces count.

Against the run of play Cork City on the other hand made their one chance of the half count, showing the type of clinical finishing that Mick Cooke’s men will aspire to.

After the game, Extratime.ie caught up with the Athlone Town manager and Cooke was left to rue sloppy defending at the back particularly for Billy Dennehy’s goal on 47 minutes.

“Ya, well obviously you dominate a game for 42 minutes, and they scored totally against the run of play, and you come in.

“We were buoyant going out for the second half, but it was schoolboy defending. Two balls over the top and certainly you can’t afford to concede ten seconds into the second half. It’s an uphill battle then.”

There were positives however for the former Drogheda United manager, as he looks to build on the performance and get off the mark for the season.

“Overall I thought the performance was good, as it was last week. I just think with the final third we’re just going to have to work harder in training to produce and make the opposition goalkeeper work harder.”

If Athlone Town were guilty of ‘schoolboy defending’, they certainly didn’t have the best of preparations as captain Aidan Collins was ruled out just before kick-off – despite having been named on in the initial starting eleven.

“It’s just his shoulder. He injured his shoulder here against Shamrock Rovers. He missed last week’s game but we thought he was OK, but he didn’t feel right in the warm up so hopefully he’ll be right for next week.”

Next up for Athlone Town is a trip to Cooke’s old club Drogheda United. When asked about the upcoming tie, the experienced manager spoke of his faith in his players and how he’s not about to ring the changes.

“It’s more of the same. People will look at this result who haven’t been at this game and think we’ve got a mauling. You were there, I thought we performed admirably.

“We were the better side in the first half by a mile I felt. Then obviously when we concede in the first minute of the second half, it’s an uphill battle. But in fairness to the lads they kept battling a way.

“They’re a good honest group of players and I’ve worked with some of them before and I’ve every faith and confidence in them.”