Mathews happy with home win
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Shelbourne are still a "work in progress" despite sitting just a point off the top of the Airtricity First Division with two wins from two, manager Alan Mathews has said.
"We've a long way to go" said Mathews, speaking exclusively to extratime.ie after Shels' 4-2 win over Wexford Youths. "We just need to keep working hard and apply ourselves as well as we can week in, week out. As I said, a lot of positives from certain aspects from certain aspects of our performance [tonight], but also a lot of food for thought. There are things that we need to work on which we will work on."
The Reds cruised into a 4-0 lead at Tolka Park last night after 40 minutes, but allowed Wexford back into the match, something which Mathews was not pleased with."I'm happy with the three points, I'm not happy with the overall performance. You can't play for 45 minutes, you need to play for 90 minutes."
"Our first half performance was excellent" acknowledged Mathews. Wexford clawed their way back into the match thanks to a Danny Furlong penalty on the stroke of half time. Mathews says that "the penalty, dubious as it was, brought them into it at half time and again we didn't execute the chances that came our way early on in the half."
Youths' second goal came in somewhat bizarre circumstances, as Garret McCurtin's poke at the ball somehow found its way past every defender and the goalkeeper. This, says Mathews, was down to "bad defensive play from our point of view to give away a corner and then the way the ball went in from the corner was poor. To give them credit they had a go then and they hit the crossbar. We needed to be a little bit more clinical in the second half, but our first half performance was very good- [we can draw] a lot of positives from it. Again, from the second half showing we've a lot to work on. So I'm satisfied with the three points but certain aspects of the performance we need to improve on."
One of the hallmarks of Shels' early dominance of the match was their use of wide players, particularly full-backs Ian Ryan and Barry Clancy to penetrate the Youths defence. Mathews was pleased with his team's tactics, and says he is looking for more of the same for the rest of the season.
"Some matches you can get wide people involved, other times it doesn't happen for whatever reason but we'll try and play in the right vein, we'll try and play with a bit of spirit and a positive attitude in every game. Tonight our wide players did particularly well for us, particularly in the first half. We created a lot of opportunities, took a few of them in the first hal, didn't take any in the second. But it's about getting the result really, we're still a long way off where we want to be and if we can keep picking up wins along the way we'll be happy enough."
"We've a long way to go" said Mathews, speaking exclusively to extratime.ie after Shels' 4-2 win over Wexford Youths. "We just need to keep working hard and apply ourselves as well as we can week in, week out. As I said, a lot of positives from certain aspects from certain aspects of our performance [tonight], but also a lot of food for thought. There are things that we need to work on which we will work on."
The Reds cruised into a 4-0 lead at Tolka Park last night after 40 minutes, but allowed Wexford back into the match, something which Mathews was not pleased with."I'm happy with the three points, I'm not happy with the overall performance. You can't play for 45 minutes, you need to play for 90 minutes."
"Our first half performance was excellent" acknowledged Mathews. Wexford clawed their way back into the match thanks to a Danny Furlong penalty on the stroke of half time. Mathews says that "the penalty, dubious as it was, brought them into it at half time and again we didn't execute the chances that came our way early on in the half."
Youths' second goal came in somewhat bizarre circumstances, as Garret McCurtin's poke at the ball somehow found its way past every defender and the goalkeeper. This, says Mathews, was down to "bad defensive play from our point of view to give away a corner and then the way the ball went in from the corner was poor. To give them credit they had a go then and they hit the crossbar. We needed to be a little bit more clinical in the second half, but our first half performance was very good- [we can draw] a lot of positives from it. Again, from the second half showing we've a lot to work on. So I'm satisfied with the three points but certain aspects of the performance we need to improve on."
One of the hallmarks of Shels' early dominance of the match was their use of wide players, particularly full-backs Ian Ryan and Barry Clancy to penetrate the Youths defence. Mathews was pleased with his team's tactics, and says he is looking for more of the same for the rest of the season.
"Some matches you can get wide people involved, other times it doesn't happen for whatever reason but we'll try and play in the right vein, we'll try and play with a bit of spirit and a positive attitude in every game. Tonight our wide players did particularly well for us, particularly in the first half. We created a lot of opportunities, took a few of them in the first hal, didn't take any in the second. But it's about getting the result really, we're still a long way off where we want to be and if we can keep picking up wins along the way we'll be happy enough."
About Niall Farrell
Niall Farrell is our correspondent at Tolka Park, covering the goings-on at Shelbourne. You can visit Niall's website for further information and contact details- niallf.net. View Full Profile