Foster not despondent despite latest loss
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The quarter point in the season has been reached and Galway United have just suffered their first away defeat of the season, to leave them in fifth position in a congested table where only seven points separate third from ninth. Having already achieved the points total for the first phase that he had set out, Ian Foster was far from despondent with Friday night's performance by an injury-hit squad, again insisting on some realism being injected into supporter's hopes for the rest of the season.
"I think you’re despondent when you deserve to lose," Foster said afterwards. "I don’t think we deserved to lose that game. I thought we should have got something out of it. We’ve got to remember where we are. It’s a very tough place to come. A lot of teams will come here and be played off the park by a very good Cork team. I think we played them off the park in the second half. I would only be despondent if we’d have given up and showed no character and let Cork steam-roll us and we didn’t and I’m delighted."
Cork City boss Paul Doolin agreed with Foster's assertion that Galway deserved something from the game after they nullified the hosts in the second half. They did this despite an injury crisis which left Foster with no option but to start John Russell in midfield despite only playing an hour of first team football in the League Cup. Foster agreed that the changes contributed to Cork's bright opening where they could have been more than Billy Dennehy's strike to the good.
"It probably did initially, particularly John Russell who’s playing his first League game of the season, and David Cooke, it’s only his second start so it probably took them a little while to get into it. I’m pleased with the performance, though.
"John’s an excellent player, he’s my vice-captain. That’s his first League start of the season in the ninth game and we’re going to miss players like that. We’re going to miss our big players. It’s only a small squad. I had 13 players going in to tonight’s game. We’ve had to take three lads who haven’t been involved with us at all out of the A championship side to sit on the bench for us."
As for the changes - "The Kelly one was enforced, McBrien and Murphy were both injured. They’re up against three very good players in there. Duggan, Gamble and Healy keep the ball for fun and they’re all comfortable on it, technically very good, and yet I don’t think they strung three passes together second half. We nullified them and got in their faces, played at a high tempo, and we’re really pleased with how we did."
United did struggle in the first half, but were noticeably sharper after the break for not the first time this season. What words of wisdom from Foster, then? "Just to up the tempo a little bit. I just think that we suffered a little with their long diagonal balls and that was because we didn’t stop it from source. When you’ve got two lads not quite up to it match fitness wise, you’re going to get that. Once they found their legs in the second half they stopped Healy and Gamble and my full backs also dealt a bit better with any balls that came their way."
The Galway boss conceded that he sets up his back four in a way that invites teams down the flanks, and one of these invitations was gratefully accepted by Fahrudin Kudozovic when he got in behind Iarfhlaith Davoren to set up the only goal. While they did improve after the interval, intrusions into the Cork penalty area were scarce and Foster admits that he will search for ways to improve their attacking prowess, which could include moving Jay O'Shea in off the wing as they did towards the end of last season.
"Obviously, when you don’t score you’re going to look at end product. I’ll watch the video and have a look and break that down and see where we could have done a lot better. I think at times we could have done a bit better in the final third. To be honest, it was my idea to play him (O'Shea) off the striker last year. It’s personnel really. The system we had last year, we were very, very narrow. And it’s where you put other players, for argument’s sake let’s say Derek O’Brien, into that system.
"I’ll look at it. We work on different shapes. I’m not stuck on this one. If there’s ways of getting Jay more influential in the game, then I’ll try and do that. What we have to do is give ourselves a start in the game. Sometimes when you play an expansive system you can get hurt. We like to keep it tight and hit teams on the break a lot and counter-attack teams, because we have got bags of pace up front. I’ll have a look at things during the week and see if we might look at changing things for St Pat’s, but I’m delighted with tonight’s performance, particularly second half."
Asked whether he would have taken Galway's league position now at the start of the campaign, Foster said "I would, yeah. I said it a few weeks ago. Lets not get carried away. We need to avoid relegation. That is what I’ve been told to do and that is what my budget is, to avoid relegation. If we take 12 points out of every round, we’ll avoid relegation.
"I’m delighted with the start we’ve had to the season and now we’ll kick on in the second round and see what we can get."
"I think you’re despondent when you deserve to lose," Foster said afterwards. "I don’t think we deserved to lose that game. I thought we should have got something out of it. We’ve got to remember where we are. It’s a very tough place to come. A lot of teams will come here and be played off the park by a very good Cork team. I think we played them off the park in the second half. I would only be despondent if we’d have given up and showed no character and let Cork steam-roll us and we didn’t and I’m delighted."
Cork City boss Paul Doolin agreed with Foster's assertion that Galway deserved something from the game after they nullified the hosts in the second half. They did this despite an injury crisis which left Foster with no option but to start John Russell in midfield despite only playing an hour of first team football in the League Cup. Foster agreed that the changes contributed to Cork's bright opening where they could have been more than Billy Dennehy's strike to the good.
"It probably did initially, particularly John Russell who’s playing his first League game of the season, and David Cooke, it’s only his second start so it probably took them a little while to get into it. I’m pleased with the performance, though.
"John’s an excellent player, he’s my vice-captain. That’s his first League start of the season in the ninth game and we’re going to miss players like that. We’re going to miss our big players. It’s only a small squad. I had 13 players going in to tonight’s game. We’ve had to take three lads who haven’t been involved with us at all out of the A championship side to sit on the bench for us."
As for the changes - "The Kelly one was enforced, McBrien and Murphy were both injured. They’re up against three very good players in there. Duggan, Gamble and Healy keep the ball for fun and they’re all comfortable on it, technically very good, and yet I don’t think they strung three passes together second half. We nullified them and got in their faces, played at a high tempo, and we’re really pleased with how we did."
United did struggle in the first half, but were noticeably sharper after the break for not the first time this season. What words of wisdom from Foster, then? "Just to up the tempo a little bit. I just think that we suffered a little with their long diagonal balls and that was because we didn’t stop it from source. When you’ve got two lads not quite up to it match fitness wise, you’re going to get that. Once they found their legs in the second half they stopped Healy and Gamble and my full backs also dealt a bit better with any balls that came their way."
The Galway boss conceded that he sets up his back four in a way that invites teams down the flanks, and one of these invitations was gratefully accepted by Fahrudin Kudozovic when he got in behind Iarfhlaith Davoren to set up the only goal. While they did improve after the interval, intrusions into the Cork penalty area were scarce and Foster admits that he will search for ways to improve their attacking prowess, which could include moving Jay O'Shea in off the wing as they did towards the end of last season.
"Obviously, when you don’t score you’re going to look at end product. I’ll watch the video and have a look and break that down and see where we could have done a lot better. I think at times we could have done a bit better in the final third. To be honest, it was my idea to play him (O'Shea) off the striker last year. It’s personnel really. The system we had last year, we were very, very narrow. And it’s where you put other players, for argument’s sake let’s say Derek O’Brien, into that system.
"I’ll look at it. We work on different shapes. I’m not stuck on this one. If there’s ways of getting Jay more influential in the game, then I’ll try and do that. What we have to do is give ourselves a start in the game. Sometimes when you play an expansive system you can get hurt. We like to keep it tight and hit teams on the break a lot and counter-attack teams, because we have got bags of pace up front. I’ll have a look at things during the week and see if we might look at changing things for St Pat’s, but I’m delighted with tonight’s performance, particularly second half."
Asked whether he would have taken Galway's league position now at the start of the campaign, Foster said "I would, yeah. I said it a few weeks ago. Lets not get carried away. We need to avoid relegation. That is what I’ve been told to do and that is what my budget is, to avoid relegation. If we take 12 points out of every round, we’ll avoid relegation.
"I’m delighted with the start we’ve had to the season and now we’ll kick on in the second round and see what we can get."
About Alan Dooley
is one of Extratime's longest serving contributors. Based in County Galway, Alan has been following the League of Ireland since the mid-1980s. His first memory of the drama of domestic football was Vinny Arkins, then … View Full Profile