Hughes delighted with Shels form

Philly Hughes is in flying form so far this season. His three goals in three games has put him joint top of the Premier Division scorers charts.

Many had doubted the Shelbourne striker’s ability to make the step up to the Premier Division after a few years of being a lethal finisher in the First Division.

But Hughes has proven the doubters wrong, and is delighted with his three goals. “It’s a great start, I’m just happy that the team is picking up the points as well,” he told extratime.ie. “We’re unlucky not to have nine points, but we’ll take the seven we’ve got. I’m very happy with my goal return as well.”

On Friday night Hughes was the difference again for Shels, his goal giving the Reds a shock win against Derry City. He struck the ball hard from the edge of the box, but was perhaps a bit fortunate that Candystripes ‘keeper Ger Doherty could only parry the ball into his own net.

“It was maybe a lucky goal,” Hughes admits, “but still we got the three points.” Their first two matches, a 1-1 draw against Sligo Rovers and a 2-0 win over Bohemians, saw Shels get points despite not dominating possession. On Friday night, though, Shels improved considerably, Hughes says.

“To be honest I thought the first two games we didn’t really play well and tonight we played a lot better. We ground it out really- they’re a good side, Derry, they have some very good players.”

Conceding late goals has been a trademark of Shels sides in the recent past. Indeed, the Reds would have won the first match this season against Sligo were it not for an equalising goal late into stoppage time. But the last two matches have seen Shels hold on to their leads, mainly through slowing the tempo of the game down in the last few minutes.

“We’ve always tried to do it [hold on to leads]” says Hughes. “The way we looked at it was, last year we conceded a lot of goals late after being ahead in a lot of games. Naturally if you’re hanging on, you are going get caught every now and then. This year we’ve done well, [we’re] defending that bit better and it’s got us over the line.”

Seven points from their three games to date is a commendable achievement for Alan Mathews’ side, but next week will be a real test of their ability. Tallaght Stadium welcomes Shels for the first time in the league, with champions Shamrock Rovers the opposition for Shels.

“We’ll go up there full of confidence,” Hughes says, “and try to give a good account of ourselves. If we can play the way we did tonight, we’ll give them a good game.”

Whatever the result, you certainly wouldn’t bet against that man scoring again.