Anthony McIntyre ⚽ If there is an antibiotic of some sort that can treat draw disease, it has yet to find its way into the Drogheda United dressing room.
Two points dropped is the only way to describe Friday's failure to overcome a resilient Waterford setup. A draw away is a point gained. A draw at home is two points dropped. By that reckoning, Waterford left the pitch the happier of the two sides.
With Ronan enjoying a Polish beach in the company of his girlfriend myself, Paddy and Jay made the short trip across the Boyne to Sullivan and Lambe Park on a lovely sunny evening. It seemed so long since we were last there for a league game, only one match being played at home in July. Jay made a 2-1 forecast which I felt to be a bit on the conservative side. The Drogs had after all come away with three points the previous week courtesy of a stout defensive performance against the Bohs at Dalymount Park, adding cream to the cake at the end with a strike by Josh Thomas. There seemed no reason, other than succumbing to draw disease, that they would not take Waterford. Experience, being a reliable teacher, should have taught me differently.
An instantly forgettable game, what detail I might have retained was quickly pushed out of my mind the following day by a much more exciting clash at the Aviva, featuring AC Milan and Leeds United. It would be churlish to have a poke at the Sullivan and Lambe game, harshly comparing it to the quality served up in the Aviva a mere 18 hours later. Horses for courses, and the Aviva was hosting players who earn more for a game that either Drogheda or Waterford do for a season. Perspective is everything.
What I have thought about since is that the Drogs are set up so conservatively as to make scoring a rare event. So often, on the break, the lead player is stranded. With no one to pass to, he is crowded out by the opposing team's defenders who always manage to arrive in numbers ahead of the chasing Drogheda posse. It is a drawing formula, not a winning one.
As dusk insinuated its way into the stadium, and the crowd exhaled its pleas for a winner, Paddy commented to me that there was more chance of a cheque coming in the post for overpaid tax than the Drogs scoring that night. Being unable to see beyond that logic I acquiesced in it, consoling myself with the thought that on this night no pessimist was going to be proved wrong. On the final whistle, we trudged our way out of the ground considerably more despondent than when we arrived. It was a D night for sure, Despondency, the only terminus suitable for a dull, dismal, dreary draw.
This time last year it was not certain that the Claret and Blue could avoid the drop. It is certain this year that come next season Sullivan and Lambe will be hosting Premier division soccer. The nether regions of the beautiful game beckon Sligo and Cork instead. Still, we rue over what might have been, that snatching draws from the jaws of victory was far from the only option available. Having been robbed of an opportunity to play in European competition this year, it will be thoroughly demoralising if the Drogs manage to draw their way out of European football next season. Then the blame can hardly be put on soccer's governing bureaucracy.
With 27 games played the Drogs sit on 42 points, level with Derry who they face next at Brandywell as they seek to hold onto the FAI Cup. That old pessimist logic comes back when I wonder how they are going to up their game to secure a victory in Derry. Stuck in the slow lane they might easily see the Candy Stripes overtake them on the road to the Aviva in November.
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