Sligo boss not giving up hope
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Despite being comfortably beaten in the first leg of their Setanta Sports Cup semi-final clash with St Patrick's Athletic, Paul Cook thinks his Sligo Rovers side can still turn it around.
A 4-1 defeat at Richmond Park should be enough to dump The Bit O'Red out of the competition and put St Pat's into the final. But Cook feels there is always a chance in football.
It might be a slim chance, but he is hoping that an improved performance in Saturday's second leg at the Showgrounds can help to turn the tie around in his side's favour.
"Of course there is [a way back]. Football is a mad game. To be fair there's always a way back. It'll be very difficult that's for sure," said Cook.
"St Pat's scored some good goals tonight. We tried to give some of our fringe players a look at the first team and I think we all saw what happened by me doing that, the good thing about management is you try to learn all the time.
"Fair credit to St Pat's. They have had a great start to the season. In end if we weren't careful, it could have been a lot more I felt. We actually looked all over the place at the end and that's the disappointing thing.
"We had a couple of chances but I felt every time St. Pat's went forward they looked a threat. That's the main worry at the moment we're leaking too many goals. The first 15 or 20 minutes we never got started at all."
Having made numerous changes for the first leg, Cook has vowed to mix things up again with his selection as he tries to keep their hopes of reaching the final alive.
"We’ll make changes. We have a lot more serious game we feel in two weeks time here on a Friday night, and that's a big game for both of us," he said.
"While the Setanta Sports Cup is great for us all, and we're all trying to win it, all managers have got their own agenda.
"We're certainly going to try play well on Saturday and try to win the game obviously. We're certainly looking forward to coming back here in ten days time [for a league game]."
A 4-1 defeat at Richmond Park should be enough to dump The Bit O'Red out of the competition and put St Pat's into the final. But Cook feels there is always a chance in football.
It might be a slim chance, but he is hoping that an improved performance in Saturday's second leg at the Showgrounds can help to turn the tie around in his side's favour.
"Of course there is [a way back]. Football is a mad game. To be fair there's always a way back. It'll be very difficult that's for sure," said Cook.
"St Pat's scored some good goals tonight. We tried to give some of our fringe players a look at the first team and I think we all saw what happened by me doing that, the good thing about management is you try to learn all the time.
"Fair credit to St Pat's. They have had a great start to the season. In end if we weren't careful, it could have been a lot more I felt. We actually looked all over the place at the end and that's the disappointing thing.
"We had a couple of chances but I felt every time St. Pat's went forward they looked a threat. That's the main worry at the moment we're leaking too many goals. The first 15 or 20 minutes we never got started at all."
Having made numerous changes for the first leg, Cook has vowed to mix things up again with his selection as he tries to keep their hopes of reaching the final alive.
"We’ll make changes. We have a lot more serious game we feel in two weeks time here on a Friday night, and that's a big game for both of us," he said.
"While the Setanta Sports Cup is great for us all, and we're all trying to win it, all managers have got their own agenda.
"We're certainly going to try play well on Saturday and try to win the game obviously. We're certainly looking forward to coming back here in ten days time [for a league game]."
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