Credit:
Cork City -v- Sligo Rovers
- Jody Moylan
- Tue, Sep 29 2009
The current fear around Cork City must be that the tea lady is, at the time of writing, pitching her tent outside Turners Cross and holding the club to ransom. After the bus driver stalled in the car park last Friday the fiasco at City this season descended into farce. That the squad eventually made it to Dublin and brought away a point from Inchicore is testament to the character of both players and management.
All told, no matter what financial travails burden these rebels, Sligo Rovers can be sure that nothing will be taken away from Turners’ Cross tonight without a huge fight.
Against a backdrop of chaos, matters on the pitch have been dealt with in a manner of professionalism and class with City still in the running for a European spot. Paul Doolin acknowledges the threat that Sligo will pose however.
“Having played Sligo in the League, FAI Cup and Setanta Sports Cup already this season, Tuesday’s game will probably be the most important game of all, with both sides very much in need of the three points. The players have shown great mental strength and great character to still be up challenging at the top end of the table given everything that has gone on this season.
Everything has gone against us since early on in the season, and if we could pick up three points and keep our challenge up it would be an excellent result. It will not be an easy game, but hopefully we can perform and we might get a lucky break, as I think we have had very little of that this season.”
Sligo know exactly what’s required to beat the front runners having had impressive results all season against the likes of Bohemians, Derry City and Cork themselves. Their 2-1 home defeat to Shamrock Rovers on Saturday left Paul Cook questioning the refereeing decisions on a night that could have easily gone the Bit O’Reds’ way.
That game came off the back of a seven match unbeaten run for the North Westerners and they will be bent on getting something at Turners’ Cross in order to wrestle themselves away from the relegation zone. With Raphael Cretaro in confident mood after scoring his 10th goal of the season against Rovers and a typically healthy band of followers to travel to Cork the odds of an away victory will not be sky high here.
Cork are in 4th place on 48 points while Sligo, despite a good run of form lie one off the bottom on 26.
Team news Cork City: Greg O’Halloran will be suspended after being sent off against St Pats last Friday but Neal Horgan should be available for selection having made the bench for that game. Paul Doolin will also be hopeful that captain Dan Murray and midfielder Stephen O’Donnell will be available after injury
Sligo Rovers: Paul Cook will have a full squad to choose from.
Extratime.ie Prediction: A tight match with Cretaro to score his 11th for the away side. 1-1
