Buckley - Performance merited a win

St. Patrick's Athletic may have been held to a 1-1 draw in Tolka Park on Friday night, but according to Liam Buckley their performance “merited a win”.

"That said, I think you’ve got to finish off the chances you create” he said. “I thought we had the bulk of the possession, the bulk of the chances and I thought we played particularly well on a poor pitch.”

The pitch was a major talking point for Buckley, whose Pat’s side drew 0-0 with Bohemians last week in similar conditions. “We had a tactic last week when the pitch was poor in Dalymount as well,” Buckley said, “and the match was awful [to watch], we decided we just had to give it a go on the poor pitch.”

Friday’s match “was a better performance on a poor pitch” according to Buckley. Shels took the lead through Brendan McGill on 22 minutes with a curling effort from long range. It hit the crossbar and then Brendan Clarke before going in, and Buckley remarks that the goal was “completely against the run of play.”

“These things happen, they had a bit of luck” the former Sporting Fingal manager said. “We were disappointing, but it was against the run of play. I thought the players picked themselves up for it and I thought for the rest of the match we were in control.”

They may have had more of the ball, but Pat’s still had to make do with a draw. Christy Fagan equalised before half-time, but arguably could have put the Saints ahead on a few occasions.

“You just need him to get chances, he’ll score his fair share of goals” Buckley said of his striker. “He knows where I’m coming from, in relation to what sort of numbers I expect from someone in that position.”

“I thought he played particularly well today,” he said, “bearing in mind he had his back to goal for most of the game. He still was in for some great chances. On another day he’ll get three chances and score three.” 

Shels held on for the draw, despite Glen Cronin’s sending off after 69 minutes. Buckley confessed that he didn’t have the best view of Cronin’s rash tackle on John Russell, but went on to say “I’m led to believe he had too feet off the ground.”

“We’ve had that last week, if you have two feet off the ground you’re sent off” he continued. “I think he got up and walked off before any questions were asked , so that might tell a tale.”