- Mark McGoldrick
- Sun, Oct 05 2014
Sligo Rovers latest home clash in the SSE Airtrcity League saw them take on U.C.D with the home side coming away with a 4-0 win with thanks to solid performances by Eamon Zayed, Gary Armstrong and David Cawley.
The Bit o’Red dominated from the outset with their first chance coming inside the first minute as Paul O’Connor found Zayed who’s shot went narrowly wide of Conor O’Donnell's net.
For the next 20 minutes of the half Rovers kept looking for holes in the Students defence with Zayed, Cawley and Raffaele Cretaro testing the visitors but none were able to convert their chances.
U.C.D’s first real chance of the half came when Ayman Ben Mohammad and Robert Benson had a lovely passage of one two play down the right hand side that caught the Rovers defence off guard.
Benson was able to get a shot off at Richard Brush’s net but his shot lacked the power it needed and the ball trailed right and wide.
Cretaro and Samir Belhout were the two main playmakers for both their respective for the next ten minutes of the game with both players delivering decent crossing chances into the box – none of these crosses got the finishes they deserved however and so the game remained tied.
It wasn’t until the 34th minute when Armstrong intercepted a sloppy midfield pass by the Students to lay it off to Cretaro who found Zayed that the deadlock was broken much to the delight of the home crowd.
After that the home side played even more aggressively with shots by both David North and Armstrong almost finding their mark before the half – but as the the teams went back into the tunnel the score remained 1-0 to the Bit o’Red.
Rovers didn’t look content with just a 1-0 lead as the second half got underway and their efforts were rewarded again in the 51st minute when – after a scramble in front of U.C.D’s net – Gary Armstrong sent the ball crashing into the bottom left corner.
Three minutes later Sligo extended their lead even further as Zayed chipped the ball over from the right which was caught by Paul O’Connor on the volley who guided the ball once again into the visitors net.
Rovers controlled the game from that point on with the only real chance coming for the visitors in the 69th minute when Gary Burke’s pass found Samir Belhout whose shot went wide.
However the Bit o’Red weren’t finished there however as Danny Ledwith found the mark off a Rovers free in the 77th minute.
So Sligo Rovers come away from their latest clash with a 4- 0 win over U.C.D with a goal for Gary Armstrong on his debut and now look forward to an away game against Bohemians on the 10th of October.
Sligo Rovers:Richard Brush; Gary Boylan, Gavin Peers, Evan McMillan, Danny Ledwith; Raffale Cretaro (Regan Donelon, 80), Paul O’Conor, David Cawley, Gary Armstrong (Ryan McManus, 69); Eamon Zayed (Ruairi Keating, 84), Danny North.
Subs not used: Gary Rogers; Kalen Spillane; Ross Taheny, Liam Flately.
Booked: None
U.C.D: Conor O’Donnell, Hugh Douglas, James Kavanagh (Dan Tobin, 80), Ian Ryan, Gareth Matthews; Robert Benson, Colm Crowe (Gary Burke, 67), Robbie Creevy, Chris Mulhall (Timmy Molloy, 87), Samir Belhout, Ayman Ben Mohamad.
Subs not used:Niall Corbett; Mark Langtry; Sean Coyne; Connor Cannon.
Booked: Colm Crowe (28)
Referee:Ray Matthews
Attendance: 1,017.
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Gary Armstrong (Sligo Rovers).
