Anthony McIntyre ⚽ On the last occasion that St Patrick's Athletic visited Weavers Park at the end of March, the two sides cancelled each other out. Then too it was a goalless draw.
We headed to the game immediately after voting all the way down for candidates that would work to exclude the hate mongers from our representative bodies. My wife had organised our preferences so well. I met one of those I voted for at the game and was pleased when she told me she enjoyed the Drogs pieces. Flattery - it works!!
Last night's game was delayed by around a minute due to streamers on the pitch. Paddy suggested that Drogheda fans were searching for an alternative to the dangerous flares. The fan who launched it did so in full view from the side of the pitch as the teams were coming out. A loud champagne type pop which startled us served as a fanfare to great colourful effect. Obviously, he felt it was an acceptable form of behaviour. Paddy's view was that the fans who put so much effort into supporting their team have to be given some latitude. A couple of fans went onto the pitch and helped players and stewards clear it of the colourful 'debris'. The players didn't seem to mind too much, and nobody else exuded annoyance.
Then the business end of the evening got under way.
The lack of goals from the encounter did little to detract from the entertainment value. A good game to watch, it was a hard fought tight contest with a few bookings picked up by either side along the way. Perhaps of more significance was Drogheda keeping a first clean sheet in thirteen games. Plugging the gaps at the back is crucial to success in soccer. Liverpool, a top drawer team, in a soccer stratosphere not even dreamed about by the Wizards of Weavers, discovered that to their cost. It was with some measure of envy that we watched Conor Keeley last night, only this time in the colours of Pat's. An erstwhile Drogheda favourite his towering presence at the heart of the defence has not been fully filled since he left the club. Still, he was booed by the home fans each time he touched the ball. No loyalty card for him.
Last night, Andrew Wogan in nets dug deep and summoned up the necessary concentration from his reserves, after his leaving cert endeavours, to hold the last line of defence. While not sorely tested, when called upon he stepped up to the plate.
Holding the line at least ensued the run of losses did not reach five on the trot. While the Drogs played well enough a point at home is not good enough for what is needed to avoid the drop. The claret and blue side need to win all home games and draw away. A herculean effort but without it lower division football beckons Drogheda United ever closer to the edge of the abyss.
Recently there have been calls from some fans for the manager to be shown the red card. That is hardly the answer. Four straight losses and one win in nine league outings is not great record. Yet, from a strategic perspective Kevin Doherty sets the team up well, but the tactical execution on the pitch causes a deficit, best explained by individual errors on the night which so often costs the side three points. To have played so well recently against Galway just to throw it in added time and come away with nothing was the cruellest of blows to the solar plexus. But other than inject more concentration into his side, there is little else Doherty will be able to do. To put some context to this, Steven Kenny has had only achieved one win in seven during his tenure with St Pat's.
Rooting around the bottom of the table is particularly deflating, considering how a packed pre-season TLT for a viewing of Underdrogs was brimming with confidence. But, no matter how it goes, Kevin Doherty should remain in place and be allowed to hold onto the reins for at least the first season of the team turning out on a full time professional footing.
The remainder of this season will be a battle for survival. What last night's point has done coupled with the defeat for Dundalk at Shelbourne lifts the Weavers men off the bottom of the table, albeit on goal difference. On next week's trip to Galway, a repeat clean sheet might just be fashioned into a rope that can help haul the Drogs up the table. Eight points behind St Pat's it will be a long climb. For now the Drogs don't need to be the fastest, just faster than Dundalk. That alone will avoid automatic relegation leaving the team's fate in its own hands in the play-off.
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