Wallace: "Shels is a huge game"
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In an interview after his side's 2-1 home defeat to Bohs on Tuesday night Wexford Youths' manager Mick Wallace praised his side, and the opponents, and cast his thoughts towards Friday night's upcoming battle against fellow play-off challengers Shelbourne.
"We were a bit like rabbits in the headlights, especially in the first 25 minutes, but we recovered in the 20 minutes before half time and got back into the game a bit. Obviously we were two down at the time but in the second half we came more and more into the game. We’d have liked to have won but at the same time it would have been a big ask but we had made five changes from the Mervue game with an eye on the Shelbourne game this coming Friday.
"Having said that, I do think that if we had’ve started our very best team I think that Bohs would’ve played even better. I saw them on Saturday night and even though they ended up losing the game – they threw it away, they’re a superb side and I’d love to see them do well in Europe ad if they get a decent draw they could do very well, they look great."
When asked about the Friday match Wallace said: "The way things are set up now we’re actually kind of nicely set up for the Friday game –we didn’t want to use Gavin or Conor much with the game coming up Friday, but we decided to give them half an hour. We were just resting them as the last time we played in Cork we played a stronger side but we paid the price for it in Monaghan – we should’ve got beat in Monaghan, we played Monday and Friday there, this is Tuesday and it's only three days to the Shels game so it can get dangerous to go flat out."
After it being put to him that the league may be more of a priority than the cups, the Warriors manager claimed: "Its not just that. I’d love to get to the semi or final of the cup again and the FAI Cup is coming up and it’ll be nice to do well in that, but of course the Shels game is a huge game for us on Friday. It’s really the difference, if we beat Shels on Friday we go level with them – if we can beat them it means that at least we’ll be in the frame for the push for the play-off spot. Whereas if we fail to win then it’s going to be difficult for us to get into that spot so it’s a huge game for our season.’
"We were a bit like rabbits in the headlights, especially in the first 25 minutes, but we recovered in the 20 minutes before half time and got back into the game a bit. Obviously we were two down at the time but in the second half we came more and more into the game. We’d have liked to have won but at the same time it would have been a big ask but we had made five changes from the Mervue game with an eye on the Shelbourne game this coming Friday.
"Having said that, I do think that if we had’ve started our very best team I think that Bohs would’ve played even better. I saw them on Saturday night and even though they ended up losing the game – they threw it away, they’re a superb side and I’d love to see them do well in Europe ad if they get a decent draw they could do very well, they look great."
When asked about the Friday match Wallace said: "The way things are set up now we’re actually kind of nicely set up for the Friday game –we didn’t want to use Gavin or Conor much with the game coming up Friday, but we decided to give them half an hour. We were just resting them as the last time we played in Cork we played a stronger side but we paid the price for it in Monaghan – we should’ve got beat in Monaghan, we played Monday and Friday there, this is Tuesday and it's only three days to the Shels game so it can get dangerous to go flat out."
After it being put to him that the league may be more of a priority than the cups, the Warriors manager claimed: "Its not just that. I’d love to get to the semi or final of the cup again and the FAI Cup is coming up and it’ll be nice to do well in that, but of course the Shels game is a huge game for us on Friday. It’s really the difference, if we beat Shels on Friday we go level with them – if we can beat them it means that at least we’ll be in the frame for the push for the play-off spot. Whereas if we fail to win then it’s going to be difficult for us to get into that spot so it’s a huge game for our season.’
