“A disappointing one that will hurt for a while”
Waterford FC's Padraig Amond battles for possession with Shamrock Rovers Josh Honohan.
Waterford FC centre forward Padraig Amond described the defeat to Shamrock Rovers in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division on Friday last as a “disappointing one that will hurt for a while” as the Blues conceded a late, late goal against the champions at the RSC.
Speaking after the game, the Blues striker said: “Very disappointed is the right phrase to use. We let ourselves down in the first-half and never got to grips with Rovers. To be fair to them, they played very well, but we played into their hands and didn’t get our press right.
“We didn’t know whether we were sitting off. That’s down to the players on the pitch. We need to recognise that. We were coached earlier in the week on what ifs and buts could happen, but we never executed it on the pitch.”
“Unfortunately I think that we’ve done that for a few weeks now in a row. We needed a break in play to get it right. You could see the difference between the second-half and first-half. It was night and day. We had Rovers exactly where we wanted them. We didn’t take advantage of it, which is the most disappointing.
“When we got it back to 1-1, we had a couple of opportunities where we got into positions, but we just haven’t executed it properly. That’s ultimately the difference in the end. Rovers had a couple of chances late on, and they took one. We’re sick down there over it.
“It’s a massive learning curve for us and it’s something that we can’t get too disappointed about. We need to really learn from it very quickly because we’ve a huge month ahead of us.” Amond admitted that it was a frustrating night. “The second-half performance would give you some belief, but it’s frustrating because you’d have to ask why we couldn’t do that in the first-half. That’s something that we’ll address in training.
“I’m sure that it’s something that the manager has already spoken about already and I’m sure that it will be something that we’ll address. We’ve a huge month ahead with some big games. We’ve had a good season up to now, but if we don’t take advantage of it, what’s the point?
“I think that we’ve played 26 games, but our whole season is going to be defined in the next ten in the league and whatever we have in the cup as well. You want to be looking in front of you and not behind you so as I said, we’ve got a big month ahead of us.”
“I think for ourselves though, we’re just disappointed that we didn’t take advantage of things when we had the opportunity. It will hurt for a little while I think. It’s twice that we’ve lost here to them at the RSC and it’s twice that the winning goal has come from not marking from a second phase ball into the box.
“There’s four teams now on 37 points and It’s almost like you’re coming into a mini league against each other now. Rovers obviously have a lot of European football left to play, but it’s up to us to ensure that we start picking up results and winning games again. If we start doing that, we won’t have to worry about things. It’s a huge last ten games
