Henderson happy with points but not performance
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Waterford United manager Stephen Henderson watched his side keep pace with league leaders UCD and leapfrog Sporting Fingal into second place with a 2-0 win over Mervue United today. The win came courtesy of goals from Willie John Kiely and Joe Mulcahy but The Blues really should have scored more having dominated the game and having created numerous chances. With Fingal slipping up on Friday night this was an excellent chance for Waterford to gain vital points on their rivals in the bid for promotion and although they took full advantage, Henderson admits it wasn’t his side’s best performance but it was an important win.
“Well first and foremost the clean sheet was really important, you know, I think that’s around five we have now. We didn’t play as well as we have been playing, which was a bit disappointing, we created a lot of chances over the course of the game but we know we have to do better against the better teams. Graham [Cummins] missed a couple of chances in the first half, particularly the header, Paul McCarthy had a great header from a few yards and Willie John [Kiely] had a few shots from inside the box. Second half then Grincell lobbed the goalkeeper, it just went wide and you know what, we made an awful lot of chances when you think about it and not just half-chances, these were good chances but we feel that we didn’t play as well as we could play.”
The Waterford wide men had an excellent afternoon, giving the Mervue full-backs a torrid time and creating a lot of chances for Cummins and Kiely up front. Was the visitors’ vulnerability on the flanks something Henderson had planned to exploit?
“Yeah our two wide players were giving them problems all afternoon. [Our plan was] to get it down the wings, they’re very square at the back. [They] clipped some great balls in for the two boys to get on to but then we stopped doing that and when we stopped doing that we started to look a bit messy, but I thought we got back to doing it alright in the second half, but that was it, it was just alright in the second half. I was delighted for young Joe [Mulcahy] he got better and better as the game went on.
Waterford will welcome Kildare to the RSC in their next home game but first travel to play FC Carlow in the EA Sports Cup on Monday. Having now won six league games on the bounce The Blues will head into these games in a very confident mood.
“Well first and foremost the clean sheet was really important, you know, I think that’s around five we have now. We didn’t play as well as we have been playing, which was a bit disappointing, we created a lot of chances over the course of the game but we know we have to do better against the better teams. Graham [Cummins] missed a couple of chances in the first half, particularly the header, Paul McCarthy had a great header from a few yards and Willie John [Kiely] had a few shots from inside the box. Second half then Grincell lobbed the goalkeeper, it just went wide and you know what, we made an awful lot of chances when you think about it and not just half-chances, these were good chances but we feel that we didn’t play as well as we could play.”
The Waterford wide men had an excellent afternoon, giving the Mervue full-backs a torrid time and creating a lot of chances for Cummins and Kiely up front. Was the visitors’ vulnerability on the flanks something Henderson had planned to exploit?
“Yeah our two wide players were giving them problems all afternoon. [Our plan was] to get it down the wings, they’re very square at the back. [They] clipped some great balls in for the two boys to get on to but then we stopped doing that and when we stopped doing that we started to look a bit messy, but I thought we got back to doing it alright in the second half, but that was it, it was just alright in the second half. I was delighted for young Joe [Mulcahy] he got better and better as the game went on.
Waterford will welcome Kildare to the RSC in their next home game but first travel to play FC Carlow in the EA Sports Cup on Monday. Having now won six league games on the bounce The Blues will head into these games in a very confident mood.
About Dean Hayes
Dean covers Waterford United and, due to a challenge from Gareth, writes in an increasingly Gonzo style. Having found himself with a considerable surplus of a culinary herb, Dean founded sister 'site extrathyme.ie some years … View Full Profile