Henderson laments "disappointing" Final performance
Credit:
Waterford United manager Stephen Henderson watched on as his side
shipped three first-half goals to Premier Division side Bohemians
in the EA Sports Cup Saturday evening and afterwards admitted his
disappointment with the manner of the goals and the nature of the
refereeing throughout the game. Henderson admitted that his side’s
tentative start to the game killed off any chance of lifting their
second piece of silverware of the season.
“First-half we never started, the game was over before we got into it. You do that in the First Division but not in the Premier, especially not against the champions.”
“At the moment I’m devastated, the players are devastated but that’s a natural reaction after losing a match. If we had have started well we probably would’ve had a chance but the thing is that the three goals we gave them, they didn’t even have to work for so that’s what’s killing us most of all. But at the end of the day it’s a cup final, we said at half-time if we’re going to get beat 6-0, we’re going to get beat 6-0 having a go at them. I said I’m not going to have six goals put in against me sitting on the edge of my own box; I want us up the park. We went up the park, we had a go and we got one back. I think Bohs were rattled for little periods of time there, we had a good chance with Vinny [Sullivan], great chance with Paul Walsh, another good chance with Graham Cummins, all clear-cut chances that we could have [scored]. But we didn’t. The second-half we’re delighted with but really disappointed really, whether the nerves got to the lads in the first-half maybe.”
On the subject of the performance of referee Derek Tomney and his assistants, Henderson was careful not to say anything that would result in disciplinary action from the FAI. “I’ll get into trouble really; I don’t know it’s your shout at it. There were a couple of dodgy things going on like the penalty, they’re having it all over the park and there’s no free-kicks going. It looked very harsh on Kevin [Murray]. Kevin is distraught and he was magnificent tonight, himself and Kenny [Browne] so it was disappointing.” Henderson also felt his side were denied an obvious penalty in the second-half when Graham Cummins’ mazy run ended with him being cut down just inside the area, fairly according to the referee. “Yeah I thought it was a blatant penalty,” said the Blues boss.
Henderson was clearly upset with the manner of Bohs’ goals and it was put to him that the champions didn’t really have to work hard for any of them. “They didn’t, and that’s the most disappointing thing. You’d love to know where you stand in terms of are they linesmen or line- assistants because I don’t know who is reffing these matches half the time, do you know what I mean? It’s very confusing because we have linesmen on one side seeing blatant things and saying it’s not his job to get involved with the referee and then we have another linesman on the complete opposite side of the pitch giving free-kicks and giving penalty-kicks and everything else so it’s a bit confusing what was going on tonight. The referee didn’t give the handball outside the box [for Bohs’ first goal], it was the linesman. There’s strange things going on but I don’t want to sit here and complain about them because enough people do that. It’s just hard to take but you have to accept that when you’re a First Division side against the champions you’re not going to get the rub of the green.”
In the days leading up to the final there was much speculation about the strength of the side Pat Fenlon would name but Henderson claims he wasn’t surprised to see Fenlon put out a very strong Bohs team for the game. “Well he had to, you know, I’m not being sarcastic but like if he had have put his ‘A’ team out there we would have beat them, personally I think we would have beat them. I think Pat showed us the respect we deserve and we’re delighted with that because we saw the team-sheet coming in and it wasn’t different to what we expected. I think what Pat tried to do was kill the game early and it worked, unfortunately he didn’t have to work very hard to get the three goals.”
Waterford return to league action next on Tuesday night against Longford Town and will be hoping to put the pain of this cup final loss behind them so that they can fully focus on their main task of promotion from the First Division.
“First-half we never started, the game was over before we got into it. You do that in the First Division but not in the Premier, especially not against the champions.”
“At the moment I’m devastated, the players are devastated but that’s a natural reaction after losing a match. If we had have started well we probably would’ve had a chance but the thing is that the three goals we gave them, they didn’t even have to work for so that’s what’s killing us most of all. But at the end of the day it’s a cup final, we said at half-time if we’re going to get beat 6-0, we’re going to get beat 6-0 having a go at them. I said I’m not going to have six goals put in against me sitting on the edge of my own box; I want us up the park. We went up the park, we had a go and we got one back. I think Bohs were rattled for little periods of time there, we had a good chance with Vinny [Sullivan], great chance with Paul Walsh, another good chance with Graham Cummins, all clear-cut chances that we could have [scored]. But we didn’t. The second-half we’re delighted with but really disappointed really, whether the nerves got to the lads in the first-half maybe.”
On the subject of the performance of referee Derek Tomney and his assistants, Henderson was careful not to say anything that would result in disciplinary action from the FAI. “I’ll get into trouble really; I don’t know it’s your shout at it. There were a couple of dodgy things going on like the penalty, they’re having it all over the park and there’s no free-kicks going. It looked very harsh on Kevin [Murray]. Kevin is distraught and he was magnificent tonight, himself and Kenny [Browne] so it was disappointing.” Henderson also felt his side were denied an obvious penalty in the second-half when Graham Cummins’ mazy run ended with him being cut down just inside the area, fairly according to the referee. “Yeah I thought it was a blatant penalty,” said the Blues boss.
Henderson was clearly upset with the manner of Bohs’ goals and it was put to him that the champions didn’t really have to work hard for any of them. “They didn’t, and that’s the most disappointing thing. You’d love to know where you stand in terms of are they linesmen or line- assistants because I don’t know who is reffing these matches half the time, do you know what I mean? It’s very confusing because we have linesmen on one side seeing blatant things and saying it’s not his job to get involved with the referee and then we have another linesman on the complete opposite side of the pitch giving free-kicks and giving penalty-kicks and everything else so it’s a bit confusing what was going on tonight. The referee didn’t give the handball outside the box [for Bohs’ first goal], it was the linesman. There’s strange things going on but I don’t want to sit here and complain about them because enough people do that. It’s just hard to take but you have to accept that when you’re a First Division side against the champions you’re not going to get the rub of the green.”
In the days leading up to the final there was much speculation about the strength of the side Pat Fenlon would name but Henderson claims he wasn’t surprised to see Fenlon put out a very strong Bohs team for the game. “Well he had to, you know, I’m not being sarcastic but like if he had have put his ‘A’ team out there we would have beat them, personally I think we would have beat them. I think Pat showed us the respect we deserve and we’re delighted with that because we saw the team-sheet coming in and it wasn’t different to what we expected. I think what Pat tried to do was kill the game early and it worked, unfortunately he didn’t have to work very hard to get the three goals.”
Waterford return to league action next on Tuesday night against Longford Town and will be hoping to put the pain of this cup final loss behind them so that they can fully focus on their main task of promotion from the First Division.
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