Henderson pleased despite defeat
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Emerging into the freak snowy conditions after a 2-0 defeat against Monaghan United, Waterford United manager was content with his side’s performance despite a slow start to the 2011 First Division season.
The defeat came on the back of a scoreless opening day draw at home to Athlone Town the previous weekend. “I thought we were a lot better than last week. They are a good Monaghan side, they’re big and strong. I think they had three shots all game and two of them ended up in the back of the net, but we’re getting there.”
Despite a good start from the away side, Alan Byrne gave the home side the opening goal; the manner of the goal disappointing the Blues boss.
“We were delighted [with the start], we were probing. They are well organised, they get their two sitting midfield players and they work it well but we were probing and we were getting in and then we conceded a goal out of no-where. What’s really disappointing is that a fella has a shot 30 yards and Alan Byrne is the only one who reacts to the rebound, so we are disappointed with that, we should be reacting better. When we threw Kevin up front, we knew we were going to be open to a break but we needed to take chance and we’d paid for it.”
Waterford United dominated for long periods of the game without creating many clear cut chances. The delivery of the ball in the final third is something Henderson admits they need to work on.
“We slow in delivering balls into dangerous areas and we weren’t getting the balls into the box enough, we’re taking extra touches when there’s no need to. We’re getting the ball out to them early, we’re getting plenty of bodies into the box but the ball never came in.”
“Our build up play from the back was good, but when we got in the final third we’re delaying the cross coming into the box, people taking an extra touch and that means we’re coming back to where we started. It’s something for us to work on, I’m not concerned. We have a good nucleus of a team there.”
Conor Sinnott was forced off through injury early in the game with midfielder Keith Quinn, also new at the club, impressing but with room for improvement.
“Losing Conor early on was a blow, Conor was influencing the game, he had a great chance but for a great tackle. And the loss of Willie [John Kiely] this morning was an unforeseen circumstance, and a devastating circumstance.”
“He [Keith Quinn] is coming on but he didn’t get as involved as we’d have liked him too. I thought he was quiet. Keith is a player we are looking to get beyond our forwards which I don’t think he did that much tonight. But that was his first game, Keith will get better because he’s a talent, there’s no doubt.”
“It’s early days, there’s a long way to go. We’re after having three brilliant starts, two in the last two seasons and it’s got us no-where so this isn’t the best start so we’ll see where this takes us.”
The defeat came on the back of a scoreless opening day draw at home to Athlone Town the previous weekend. “I thought we were a lot better than last week. They are a good Monaghan side, they’re big and strong. I think they had three shots all game and two of them ended up in the back of the net, but we’re getting there.”
Despite a good start from the away side, Alan Byrne gave the home side the opening goal; the manner of the goal disappointing the Blues boss.
“We were delighted [with the start], we were probing. They are well organised, they get their two sitting midfield players and they work it well but we were probing and we were getting in and then we conceded a goal out of no-where. What’s really disappointing is that a fella has a shot 30 yards and Alan Byrne is the only one who reacts to the rebound, so we are disappointed with that, we should be reacting better. When we threw Kevin up front, we knew we were going to be open to a break but we needed to take chance and we’d paid for it.”
Waterford United dominated for long periods of the game without creating many clear cut chances. The delivery of the ball in the final third is something Henderson admits they need to work on.
“We slow in delivering balls into dangerous areas and we weren’t getting the balls into the box enough, we’re taking extra touches when there’s no need to. We’re getting the ball out to them early, we’re getting plenty of bodies into the box but the ball never came in.”
“Our build up play from the back was good, but when we got in the final third we’re delaying the cross coming into the box, people taking an extra touch and that means we’re coming back to where we started. It’s something for us to work on, I’m not concerned. We have a good nucleus of a team there.”
Conor Sinnott was forced off through injury early in the game with midfielder Keith Quinn, also new at the club, impressing but with room for improvement.
“Losing Conor early on was a blow, Conor was influencing the game, he had a great chance but for a great tackle. And the loss of Willie [John Kiely] this morning was an unforeseen circumstance, and a devastating circumstance.”
“He [Keith Quinn] is coming on but he didn’t get as involved as we’d have liked him too. I thought he was quiet. Keith is a player we are looking to get beyond our forwards which I don’t think he did that much tonight. But that was his first game, Keith will get better because he’s a talent, there’s no doubt.”
“It’s early days, there’s a long way to go. We’re after having three brilliant starts, two in the last two seasons and it’s got us no-where so this isn’t the best start so we’ll see where this takes us.”
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