Reaction to Shels’ home victory over Longford town

Speaking to extratime.ie after Shels’ home victory over Longford town, goal scorer David Freeman and Mark Rutherford shared their views on the game.

Speaking on the game as a whole, Freeman had this to say:
“It was a good result; I think we needed a win to keep in touch with Dundalk The big thing for us was not going a goal down. Its hard chasing a game, you have to force things and lose your game plan. It’s happened to us a few times so far this season so thankfully we got the lead ourselves. I thought I did alright. Did well in the first half, probably wasn’t as good in the second half but I got the goal so I can’t complain”

Freeman opened the scoring after a penalty decision was harshly given against Longford’s Alan O’Riordan for a perceived handball; however moments later another handball in the area by Ronan Frawley went unpunished.

Freeman was honest in his assessment on the two incidents:
“I think it was a little bit fortuitous, I didn’t think it was a penalty. From where I was the second hand ball looked much more of a penalty then the first one, but I’m sure we’ll get some dodgy ones given against us over the season so we’ll take what we’re given.”

Shels’ dominated possession throughout, however Freeman had words of caution for situations where the home side has so much control in a game:
“It’s hard when you have as much possession as we had because sometimes you lose concentration and the slightest lapse can let them in. But other than their early chance I thought we defended very well and we limited them to little or nothing to be honest.”

“The crowd was great, always making good noise for us and good support for us and we’re going to need that if we want to well this season.”

Rutherford, a second half substitute, was delighted with the result and the performance of the team after a poor first half display.
“The whole team did well second half, we attacked more and made chances. No goals conceded, compared to previous games when we have let in silly goals so that’s good. We’re only three points behind [Dundalk] now but we’ll get better as the season goes on and we’ll perform a lot better.”

Shels’ hope to close the gap on Dundalk further when they make the short trip down the road to Sporting Fingal next Friday.