Henderson upbeat following Wexford 'downer'
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Waterford United’s nine game unbeaten run in the league came to an abrupt end at the RSC on Saturday night at the hands of a well-drilled Wexford Youths team. The Blues had been flying up until this game, having overtaken UCD as league leaders and coming off the back of a 2-1 win over Shamrock Rovers in the cup and a 4-1 rout of Sporting Fingal away from home.
The run had to end sometime however and United manager Stephen Henderson gave extratime.ie his thoughts after the game. “We’re disappointed; we’re all disappointed, not just me, the players as well, we’re disappointed we didn’t show up today. Wexford were the better team [for] two halves, they took their chances, we didn’t so they got what they deserved and we got what we deserved.”
When asked if this result highlighted Waterford’s need to add more personnel to a tiny squad, Henderson was eager not to blame the circumstances. “We’d be only making excuses, you know, because we’re a very good side. We just said to the lads that good sides will be judged on how they react to stuff like this. We were poor today, we got what we deserved and we have two opportunities now to fix that, against Rockmount on Tuesday [in the Munster Senior Cup final] and Shelbourne on Friday.”
The Blues boss was also adamant that this result would not affect his sides’ mentality. “[I’m] positive, positive because we’re a good side. It’s a good side and it’s one bad performance and you’re going to get a few bad performances throughout the course of the year but you can’t ask for any more in terms of their work rate. They worked extremely hard, just the quality wasn’t in our play that has been in the last few weeks so, you know, very often when you come on the back of a huge result like we had in Fingal, sometimes there’s a downer after it and we certainly got a downer today.”
Waterford’s attention now turns to the Munster Senior Cup final on Tuesday against Rockmount at Turner’s Cross and a chance for Henderson to pick up his first piece of silverware with the club but the Dubliner is looking forward to the game for a different reason. “We’re looking forward to it because it’s the next match, that’s what the most important thing is. It’s like falling off a bike, the sooner you get back on it the better so we’ve a great opportunity now, we lost tonight, but we’ve a great opportunity to go back now on Tuesday and get back to winning ways.”
The run had to end sometime however and United manager Stephen Henderson gave extratime.ie his thoughts after the game. “We’re disappointed; we’re all disappointed, not just me, the players as well, we’re disappointed we didn’t show up today. Wexford were the better team [for] two halves, they took their chances, we didn’t so they got what they deserved and we got what we deserved.”
When asked if this result highlighted Waterford’s need to add more personnel to a tiny squad, Henderson was eager not to blame the circumstances. “We’d be only making excuses, you know, because we’re a very good side. We just said to the lads that good sides will be judged on how they react to stuff like this. We were poor today, we got what we deserved and we have two opportunities now to fix that, against Rockmount on Tuesday [in the Munster Senior Cup final] and Shelbourne on Friday.”
The Blues boss was also adamant that this result would not affect his sides’ mentality. “[I’m] positive, positive because we’re a good side. It’s a good side and it’s one bad performance and you’re going to get a few bad performances throughout the course of the year but you can’t ask for any more in terms of their work rate. They worked extremely hard, just the quality wasn’t in our play that has been in the last few weeks so, you know, very often when you come on the back of a huge result like we had in Fingal, sometimes there’s a downer after it and we certainly got a downer today.”
Waterford’s attention now turns to the Munster Senior Cup final on Tuesday against Rockmount at Turner’s Cross and a chance for Henderson to pick up his first piece of silverware with the club but the Dubliner is looking forward to the game for a different reason. “We’re looking forward to it because it’s the next match, that’s what the most important thing is. It’s like falling off a bike, the sooner you get back on it the better so we’ve a great opportunity now, we lost tonight, but we’ve a great opportunity to go back now on Tuesday and get back to winning ways.”
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