More positives than negatives - Cooke
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Drogheda United manager spoke exclusively to extratime.ie in the aftermath of St Pats 4-1 victory bringing his teams mini revival to an end at Hunky Dorys Park. As always Mick sought to find the positives in the performance.“With three wins out of the last four it was going well, but there are more positives than negatives. We held the team that are second in the League for 70 minutes and for a ten minute spell at the start of the second half we could have taken the lead, that’s the positives and we’ve just got to build on that and eradicate the negatives.”
The final score line was a little harsh on the home team as they had more than played their part until the visitors scored twice in a four minute spell at the start of the last quarter of the game. Mick had cause to rue some slack defending.“(We were) so tight for 70 minutes and I felt we were the equal of them in the first half, then to go a goal behind so quick (in the second half) and then to reply so quick.
"I thought then we had our heads up then for about 10-15 minutes , (Gary) Rogers pulled off a great save from (Dinny) Corcoran and young Jake (Carroll) got in a couple of good tackles and there was a couple of desperation tackles by them before we gave away a silly goal from the free kick. I thought the second, third and fourth (goals) were basically schoolboy errors, I thought that we had eradicated all that over the previous few weeks.“
Drogheda were well in the match until they conceded a free 30 yards out that was also accompanied by a “handbags” type confrontation involving young Drogs centre half Victor Ekanem. Dave Bradley launched the free in, Anto Murphy got the slightest of headed touches and the rest as they say is history “ Victor got into a scuffle and I think he lost his concentration for a few minutes and it broke up his partnership with Alan (McNally) but I’m not blaming him. The back four for the previous few weeks have been very, very good but they were just caught napping.”
Drogheda have a chance to get the defeat out of their system on Tuesday evening when they entertain UCD (kick-off 7.45 pm) in what could be a massive game for both clubs, Mick is looking not just to catch the Students but to overhaul them.“We’re ahead of Galway and UCD are next in our sights and I don’t know who will be the next target after that.”
In common with many other clubs the Drogs playing ranks are swelled at the moment with several trialists. “We have a few lads in training with us and every manager will want to strengthen for different reasons. Michael O’Neill will want to strengthen to retain the title I want to strengthen to avoid relegation we all have different reasons why we want to strengthen.”
Amongst the “new” players around the place is ex Shels and Dundalk veteran Dave Rogers and Mick will be trying to tie him down as well as several others come the opening of the transfer window. “He’s just training at the minute and I’m sure that one or two other clubs will be looking for him as well. We also have one or two other boys from the North training with us as well but we can’t sign them until July. Three or four will come in and it will increase the pressure on fellas to keep their place and that competition won’t do any harm.”
So as ever Mick remains upbeat and looking for the next chance to improve on his lot with his team, Tuesday evening may just give him a chance of closing the gap on his nearest rivals.
The final score line was a little harsh on the home team as they had more than played their part until the visitors scored twice in a four minute spell at the start of the last quarter of the game. Mick had cause to rue some slack defending.“(We were) so tight for 70 minutes and I felt we were the equal of them in the first half, then to go a goal behind so quick (in the second half) and then to reply so quick.
"I thought then we had our heads up then for about 10-15 minutes , (Gary) Rogers pulled off a great save from (Dinny) Corcoran and young Jake (Carroll) got in a couple of good tackles and there was a couple of desperation tackles by them before we gave away a silly goal from the free kick. I thought the second, third and fourth (goals) were basically schoolboy errors, I thought that we had eradicated all that over the previous few weeks.“
Drogheda were well in the match until they conceded a free 30 yards out that was also accompanied by a “handbags” type confrontation involving young Drogs centre half Victor Ekanem. Dave Bradley launched the free in, Anto Murphy got the slightest of headed touches and the rest as they say is history “ Victor got into a scuffle and I think he lost his concentration for a few minutes and it broke up his partnership with Alan (McNally) but I’m not blaming him. The back four for the previous few weeks have been very, very good but they were just caught napping.”
Drogheda have a chance to get the defeat out of their system on Tuesday evening when they entertain UCD (kick-off 7.45 pm) in what could be a massive game for both clubs, Mick is looking not just to catch the Students but to overhaul them.“We’re ahead of Galway and UCD are next in our sights and I don’t know who will be the next target after that.”
In common with many other clubs the Drogs playing ranks are swelled at the moment with several trialists. “We have a few lads in training with us and every manager will want to strengthen for different reasons. Michael O’Neill will want to strengthen to retain the title I want to strengthen to avoid relegation we all have different reasons why we want to strengthen.”
Amongst the “new” players around the place is ex Shels and Dundalk veteran Dave Rogers and Mick will be trying to tie him down as well as several others come the opening of the transfer window. “He’s just training at the minute and I’m sure that one or two other clubs will be looking for him as well. We also have one or two other boys from the North training with us as well but we can’t sign them until July. Three or four will come in and it will increase the pressure on fellas to keep their place and that competition won’t do any harm.”
So as ever Mick remains upbeat and looking for the next chance to improve on his lot with his team, Tuesday evening may just give him a chance of closing the gap on his nearest rivals.
