Stuart Ashton: We had to believe that we were doing what is right and it showed in the performance against Wexford

A 4-0 hammering of Wexford FC at St Colman’s Park  gave Cobh Ramblers their biggest home win in almost 18 months on Tuesday evening.

A brace from Lee Devitt combined with a neat finish from Darragh Crowley and an own goal lifted the play-offs chasing Ramblers up to sixth in the First Division table.

The result came just four days after they were beaten 1-0 by table-toppers Cabinteely at Stradbrook, a game which saw the Ramblers dominate, but fail to convert one of many chances on the night.

“We played well at Cabinteely on Friday night and got nothing out of it,” Ashton reflected on his side’s recent results.

“We got praise for our performance up there but that counts for nothing because we didn’t get the result. We had to believe that we were doing what is right and it showed in the performance against Wexford. We played good football, took our chances, and got rewarded well.

“We believe in the players we got here. We have showed in patches in games what we can do. If we can get these guys believing, and the rest of the squad who are trying to get a place in the starting XI, we can go in the right direction.”

Ashton also praised the performance of his goalkeeper Sean Barron who made his competitive debut for the Ramblers against Wexford after signing from Avondale United last month.

“We chose Sean and he showed his worth. You could see that with his saves in the second half. They were straight out of the top drawer.

“The competition is great in the squad. No one likes to be left out. For myself as the manager, I have to make hard decisions with our quality players. I always say that the players will pick themselves if they do their job on the pitch and come with the right attitude to training. Those are the players who will be playing.

“We keep saying in training that we are going in the right direction. But until we start seeing results and goals being scored, the players won’t believe it. The Wexford win was the perfect tonic for that. It will do everyone the world of good and give a great morale boost to the squad. Hopefully we can push on on Saturday.”

Cobh will welcome Longford Town to St. Coleman’s Park on Saturday night, in another must win game for the club. Town will be travelling to East Cork fourth in the table following Monday’s 3-1 loss to Cabinteely at the Bishopsgate.

“We’ve seen from some of the results over the last few nights that everyone can take points off one another in this league. We are still in the mix for the play-offs but we know we have tough games coming up.

“We know that Longford are going to be coming down on the back of a loss. Up until then they were pushing for the top spot. The loss can be an advantage for us or it will fire them up coming down here.

“We know what to expect from Longford and we will do our homework. We are not expecting an easy game on Saturday by any means.”

The Cobh manager also confirmed the departures of Adam Foley, Jamie O’Sullivan and Steve O’Connor from the squad.