O'Brien gutted after Youths thrashing

Waterford United’s Paul O’Brien saw his 2012 managerial campaign get off to the worst possible start last Friday with a crushing 6-0 defeat away to south-east rivals Wexford Youths.

“It’s very disappointing. I felt at half time when we were three goals down and had a man sent off that we had something to prove going out into the second half” O’Brien said after the game at Ferrycarrig Park.

“The three goals that we gave away in the first half were absolutely terrible defensively.  Two balls straight down the middle and one over the top but we’re disappointed overall. But look, we’ve got to regroup and go back to fix this. I’m so disappointed that it’s unbelievable.

With the usual large crowd making the short trip from Waterford for the game, O’Brien said that he couldn’t accept a defeat in that manner.

“The preparation was right and I felt that everything was right for the game. It’s tough coming up here to Wexford and that kind of thing but there’s no way that this should have happened. I just cant accepted a six nil defeat up here. It’s my job now to regroup the lads, go back and get this right.

“We have to knuckle down and sort this out. We have to sort this out. I’ll have to take some responsibility and I wont shy away from that responsibility. I mean to say, the buck stops with me as the manager but I have to go back and watch the video of the game. We’ll fix this.

“Every time that they attacked, they looked like scoring but we gave them three simple goals. We then had a man sent off and I was expecting better in the second half. I’m very disappointed with the whole situation and we’ve got to sort it out,” said O’Brien.

The Blues boss was forced to defend his players to the suggestion that some players didn’t have any interest in the game.

“I don’t think you’re right,” O’Brien said, “I think that they are really harsh words. I mean to say when you look at the lads in there, they’re gutted. Nobody plays football for the sake of playing football and if you think that these lads are disinterest, I feel that they’re harsh words.

“The result is the result and we can’t do anything about it at this stage. We’ve got to go back and regroup. I know Craig Burns is gone to hospital with concussion and he couldn’t see through one eye. We changed things around but as I said it’s our problem now and we’ll have to go back and regroup now. We’ve got to show pride now and dust ourselves off for the next game.

“We have a squad of players, we’ve young lads and we’ve experienced players with a lot of games under their belt so we’ll be pushing on their experience and we’ll get this right,” continued the Blues boss.

“I know we’ve Limerick next and that’ll be no problem because we’ll be much more stronger next week. I’m disappointed and I’ve never felt so low in all my life to be honest with you. I’ve put a lot into this and we’ve been training since January 10th. I’ll look at my own performance into this, the preparation, the teams that I put out, the mistakes we made and I’ll try correct all that.”

O’Brien was disappointed with the start to the season, the first league campaign he has had as manager in the League of Ireland, which saw his own family member make the trip to Wexford.

“I have to say to the fans that hand on heart, it’s a disappointing night for everybody and none worse than me. This is my first opportunity to get a go at this League of Ireland football and I’m gutted. Nobody has to tell me how bad that was. I’m not naïve in any way, shape or form but I’m really disappointed here tonight.

“I had family here tonight as well, I’m a proud Waterford man and I’ll be leaving no stone unturned and I’ll be pushing this lads to the last because I’m as hurt as anybody else here. I’m not going to accept tonight’s performance and I’ll express that to the fans,” concluded Waterford United manager Paul O’Brien.

It doesn’t get any easier for Paul O’Brien as his side welcome First Division favourites Limerick to the RSC on Friday night.