Place pleased with Athlone progress
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Athlone Town manager Brendan Place exited the away dressing room at the RSC on Tuesday night a happy man following his side’s 0-0 draw with promotion hopefuls Waterford United.
A good team display frustrated Waterford United all night with keeper Chris Bennion producing some outstanding saves to earn the Midlanders a point.
"It was a good point. We knew coming down here it was going to be difficult," Place told Extratime.
"We knew we would have to work hard and be at our best to keep Waterford contained and I thought we did that well at times. I know they had a couple of chances but we could have knicked it at the end as well.
"That’s our 7th clean sheet so there’s obviously something about us collectively; defensively we’re nice and solid. There were a couple of lads making their debuts tonight and I was delighted with them.
"Young Gordon Watson up front I thought was terrific and James Goggins came on so it’s only good for the squad and for the team in general."
Place was particularly pleased that his side played to the standards he has set, following the weekend’s disappointing loss to Wexford Youths, and admits a point was a good return on the performance.
"I would have taken the point coming down, of course, because we knew it was going to be difficult," he said.
"Waterford were beaten by Longford and there would be a real determination about them that they were going to get back on track, but we wanted to get back on track also because we didn’t perform against Wexford.
"No disrespect to them [Wexford] but we didn’t set the same high standards collectively and defensively that we had been setting before that, so it was nice to get back on track, although disappointed we didn’t score on the night."
The point takes Athlone to 14 points for the season and up to seventh place in the table, and just five points of a play-off spot. Place, however, just wants his side to keep collecting points and see what happens.
"We want to just keep pushing on, keep getting better," stated the Athlone boss.
"It’s a completely new team from last year and I feel the team is getting better and the spirit within the squad is great, and we’ll just keep collecting points and see where we end up."
A good team display frustrated Waterford United all night with keeper Chris Bennion producing some outstanding saves to earn the Midlanders a point.
"It was a good point. We knew coming down here it was going to be difficult," Place told Extratime.
"We knew we would have to work hard and be at our best to keep Waterford contained and I thought we did that well at times. I know they had a couple of chances but we could have knicked it at the end as well.
"That’s our 7th clean sheet so there’s obviously something about us collectively; defensively we’re nice and solid. There were a couple of lads making their debuts tonight and I was delighted with them.
"Young Gordon Watson up front I thought was terrific and James Goggins came on so it’s only good for the squad and for the team in general."
Place was particularly pleased that his side played to the standards he has set, following the weekend’s disappointing loss to Wexford Youths, and admits a point was a good return on the performance.
"I would have taken the point coming down, of course, because we knew it was going to be difficult," he said.
"Waterford were beaten by Longford and there would be a real determination about them that they were going to get back on track, but we wanted to get back on track also because we didn’t perform against Wexford.
"No disrespect to them [Wexford] but we didn’t set the same high standards collectively and defensively that we had been setting before that, so it was nice to get back on track, although disappointed we didn’t score on the night."
The point takes Athlone to 14 points for the season and up to seventh place in the table, and just five points of a play-off spot. Place, however, just wants his side to keep collecting points and see what happens.
"We want to just keep pushing on, keep getting better," stated the Athlone boss.
"It’s a completely new team from last year and I feel the team is getting better and the spirit within the squad is great, and we’ll just keep collecting points and see where we end up."
About Brendan White
Brendan White is Extratime News Editor and is responsible for the news section of Extratime.ie. Brendan also covers matches in Dublin and Waterford. You can contact Brendan on twitter @whitebrendan. View Full Profile