Saints team manager Alan Mathews: 'Over the 90 minutes we made every effort to win the game'

Rónán MacNamara reports from Richmond Park

St Patrick’s Athletic first-team manager Alan Mathews felt his side’s greater desire and effort to win was the key difference as they saw off Drogheda United 2-1 at Richmond Park.

Pats moved into joint-second position thanks to Billy King’s last-minute strike, after Dinny Corcoran had cancelled out Rónán Coughlan’s second-half opener.

The Saints led for just nine minutes following Coughlan’s first goal for the club, as former Pats player Corcoran was sprung from the bench before capitalising on a Vitezslav Jaros error.

It was the home side who had the last laugh, however, as King volleyed home a Darragh Burns cross, and Mathews felt it was just reward for their endeavour across the game.

“I thought over the 90 minutes we made every effort to try and win the game,” the Dubliner told extratime.com.

“Okay, we got our noses in front and Drogheda wrestled themselves back into the game. They’re a very good side [with] a lot of good players.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult game. We showed great character and resilience to push for the winner and thankfully it came in injury time.”

A goal and assist came from the bench courtesy of Burns and King respectively and Mathews stressed the importance of having a squad.

“It’s about the squad rather than the 11. We’ve got a smaller squad than we had last year which will put a greater onus on players to come in and you’re looking to them to make an impact.”

Liverpool loanee Jaros made a costly error which allowed Dinny Corcoran to score but Mathews was impressed with the character the young Czech international showed.

The 19-year-old was able to deal with further crosses into the box and pulled off a fine save late on to ensure the three points stayed in Inchicore.

“His overall game was excellent. Keepers are always highlighted if they make a mistake and when they make a mistake the ball goes into the back of the net.

“But his response was terrific he made a wonderful save and his distribution and overall play was top class.

“He’s here from Liverpool to learn and if he plays like he has for the last couple of games we will be very happy.”

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— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) March 27, 2021