League Report: Sligo Rovers 3 - 0 Longford Town

Raffaele Cretaro was the hero for Sligo Rovers as they claimed a 3-0 win over Longford Town at the Showgrounds on Saturday evening.

The Bit O' Red dominated the game from the second minute of the match all the way through. Sligo Rovers carved open a poor Longford defence at will throughout the evening and could have scored six or seven.

In very windy conditions the game kicked off with Longford on the front foot. They dispossessed the Sligo defence and had the first chance of the game shooting wide of Schlingermanns right hand post. Unfortunately for The Town this was as good as it got.

After five minutes a lovely move got John Russell free down the right and he crossed to Cretaro who had two chance to put Rovers ahead. He was denied by a mix of Paul Skinner and Patrick Flynn.

After eight minutes, with pressure building on the Longford defence, Jordan Richards received the ball in the wide right position and immediately took on his defender. He cut inside and unleashed a fine strike low past Skinner into the corner of the goal.

The game was now all Sligo and Longford were struggling to get out of their half. The Bit O' Red created chance after chance without scoring and the home fans began to get restless. There were audible groans from the sizeable crowd.

The home side had to wait until the 32^nd minute to get the all-important second goal. Longford again cleared their lines only as far as the home favourite Cretaro whose effort from all of 25 yards flew past Skinner in the Longford goal.

The Bit O' Red were exuding confidence and creating plenty of chances. Another excellent cross from Liam Martin, who was very busy throughout, was put into his own net by Tristan Noack-Hofmann making it 3-0 after 41 minutes.

The second half was a lot more competitive. The Longford Town manager Tony Cousins made two changes at half time and with his words ringing in the players ears the Town set about Sligo Rovers flying into challenges.

Rovers continued to create plenty of chances but couldn’t add to their tally in the second half, much to the dismay of the home support. A number of substitutions were made and this seemed to disrupt the rhythm of the game.

Longford will be happy with their second half performance as they battled well and showed plenty of spirit, but on this showing it will be a tough season ahead. Sligo Rovers move up to ninth and will hope to build on this performance.

Sligo Rovers: Michéal Schlingermann; Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Mick Leahy (Tim Clancy 64), Gary Boylan, Regan Donelon; John Russell, Craig Roddan, Liam Martin (Jaanai Gordon 81), Jimmy Keohane, Jordon Richards; Raffaele Cretaro (Kieran Sadlier 64).

Subs not used: Ciaran Nugent (GK), Chris Lyons, Gary Armstrong, Michael Place.

Booked: Tim Clancy (72)

Longford Town: Paul Skinner; Mark Hughes, Pat Flynn, Noel Haverty, Tristan Noack-Hofmann; Peter McGlynn (Josh O’Hanlon 46), Kevin O’Connor, John McKeon (Philip Gannon 46); Don Cowan (Lee Duffy 75).

Subs not used: Ian Molloy, Daniel O’Reilly, Kealon Dillon, Kaleem Simon.

Booked: Kevin O’Connor (63).

Referee: David McKeon.

Attendance: 1,542.

ExtraTime.ie Player of the Match: Jordan Richards (Sligo Rovers).