Keith Long: “I think that we’re unlucky not to get a point”
Waterford FC manager Keith Long and assistant David Breen both pointing the way for Waterford FC during the second-half.
Waterford FC Head Coach Keith Long believes that his side did enough to get a result from their SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division clash with Shamrock Rovers at the RSC on Bank Holiday Monday last as the champions left the RSC with a 2-1 success.
Speaking after the game, the Blues Head Coach said: “I thought that it was a good performance from us, and for long periods of the game, we were comfortable without really testing Leon Pohls in the Shamrock Rovers goal.
“They had some chances in the first-half in particular, but once we got up to speed with the game, I thought that we settled into the game quite nicely. The goal again – the first goal – is a poor goal to concede from our viewpoint.
“We don’t get pressure on the ball. It was a dead ball situation and we’ve got to slow things down. You can’t allow the opposition to get onto the game quickly as we’ve allowed them to do. Our line was too high and we’ve conceded a very poor goal.
“I thought that we started the second-half really, really brightly. We conceded a goal and then we got our own goal from Robbie McCourt. I thought that we were on top at that particular time. The second goal – Pico Lopes has got a good run and he shows his experience to get his head on a fantastic cross.
“It’s a good cross but we don’t get pressure on the ball. It’s a little bit fortunate for Rovers on how the ball ended up in a crossing position. We don’t get pressure on the cross, Lopes gets first-run on Grant, and it’s a good header.
“They see the game out probably quite comfortably if I’m honest. They are a very experienced side and winners of the league for the last four years. They’ve got a lot of quality players, and they know how to win football matches.”
Long was happy about his side responded after going a goal down early in the second-half. “Similar to Rovers, we made four changes before the game and we brought in players. I thought some of them played really, really well.
“That’s the importance of a squad – that you can rely on the players that haven’t played much recently, and we made a couple of changes bringing on both Harvey (Macadam) and Maleace (Asamoah). Harvey was unavailable for the game against Sligo, but I thought that he put a nice zip into our passing.
“He showed good quality and good legs. Maleace is always going to cause problems to any team with his pace and his unpredictability of how he plays the game. We caused some problems and we landed on some second balls. We got the free-kick that led to the goal.
“But we’re disappointed overall that we’re not coming away with at least something from the game. I think that there’s positives to be taken in some of the performances because I thought that some of them were really good today.
“I think that we’ve got to cut out the problems and mistakes in our game that we can learn from. We need to improve. We need to get better and perform better. I think that we have some half-decent players here and a half-decent squad.”
Long is hoping that his side can start to putting some points on the table. “A fast start to the league is important, but we haven’t got a win in four league games. Prior to that, we were doing really well in terms of results. I think that it’s important now that we begin to put more points on the table.
“There is a long, long way to go in this season. The first phase of games finish against Bohs, but we’ve got a lot to do and a lot to improve upon. We need to continue to give a consistent message and make sure that the players understand their jobs.
“After that, I think that if we perform that results will take care of themselves. It’s one of those things – sometimes you get what you deserve and other times you don’t. Maybe today, we don’t quite get what we deserved. I thought that we deserved a point, but if you look at the chances that Rovers did have, they’d argue that they were comfortable enough to win the game.”
