Cronin urges Blues fans to fill seats

The talk in footballing circles on Suirside this week was not so much about the opening of the new stand at the RSC as it was about the precarious state of Waterford United’s finances. Manager Gareth Cronin tonight admitted that the talk of financial crisis is a distraction for him and his players as they attempt to return The Blues to the Premier Division.

“It is a worry and the players at times are worried about it… You just keep your head down and keep going and try not to think about it,” the Waterford boss told extratime.ie. “It was more than anything a cry for help this week. The crowd last week was pathetic really, about 480, and for so few to see us score as many goals as we have for about a decade is a shame. I just hope tonight we were up around the thousand mark. That’s what the club needs.”

The Cork native has began to notice a common thread amongst those eircom League sides facing financial ruin. “It’s never nice especially with my history. Cork were liquidated in my first year as a player and Dublin City were liquidated so it’s probably me at fault. I’m a jinx,” joked Cronin. However, the United boss doesn’t believe that it’s time yet for the club to start sounding the alarm bells.

The 33 year old was pleased with his side’s second victory in as many weeks tonight. “I’m happy with the result and reasonably happy with the performance. It wasn’t as bad as the Kildare one a few weeks back. At times we passed it well but they have an unusual formation for this league and they make it very hard for teams to break them down. We struggled in the first half albeit we did have a couple of chances.”

Cronin admitted that his magic wand didn’t make an appearance during the interval and the instructions given to his charges were simple but effective. “We got throw ins in the first half and their back three and midfield four or five got behind the ball and we just threw it down the line which is just stupid because there were so many bodies back. I just wanted Kenny and David Breen to be brave enough to get on the ball and they did and as a result we pushed them back ten yards and we worked a little move and scored from it. That was the only difference really,” he said.

“I thought Kenny Browne was brilliant at centre back and Vinny did well second half and worked the goal very well. There wasn’t any really outstanding performances but no-one had a nightmare either.” Cronin said that he knew tonight would not see a repeat of the champagne football of last week. “I knew tonight would be a lot more difficult than last week. Monaghan came down and didn’t look particularly organised but tonight, you can say what you like, but Wexford are very organised.”

The result puts United within three points of leaders Dundalk who lost to Shelbourne on Thursday night. That win for the Dublin side pleased Cronin greatly. “I would have taken a draw or a Shels win. I wouldn’t have liked to see Dundalk keep their six point lead. It’s back to one game now and we have both of them at home in this round of fixtures. It’s very much all to play for.”