Cooke happy with Drogs performance
Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)
Drogheda boss Mick Cooke was happy to stop the rot after back to back league
defeats by picking up a 1-1 draw against Galway at Hunky Dorys Park.
“Very pleased obviously the performance is more pleasing than anything
else particularly after the last two games against Sligo and Shamrock
Rovers. The energy the team showed tonight showed that the changes
that I made were justified.”
Cooke made wholesale changes to his starting line up following a 4-0 defeat last week to Shamrock Rovers and felt that the drastic surgery served a purpose. “The same players performed well in the League Cup against Bray, I felt that a few players let us down in the previous two games and they (the replacements) deserved a chance. The most pleasing thing was that in the last ten minutes we went to try to win the game. I think at the start of the second half self preservation took over, we were one up and not having won a game we retreated a bit too early to defend a 1-0 lead but it was pleasing that in the last ten minutes that we tried to win the game.”
The Drogs manager hasn’t resigned his team to a season long battle against relegation just yet. “It's early days yet, there are still 30 league games to go, people have been saying to me is this game a six pointer tonight. Maybe if there was six games to go it might be, but with 30 league games to go we still have to play them (Galway) another three times, we’ll play Bray four times. People are putting it down that it’s going to be the four of us (Drogheda, Galway, Bray and UCD) at the bottom but you never know as the season goes on maybe one of the bigger boys will be pulled in to it as well.
"I’m only getting my feet under the table here and it won’t be for the lack of energy or effort by myself, the staff or the players to ensure that we won’t be in the bottom two come November.”
Galway played a direct game in the first half and debutant centre half Victor Ekanem showed up well. “Victor was at Longford last year, he’s done really well in training I thought he’d done exceptionally well against Bray in the League Cup. It was always a toss-up whether we would bring Victor in and I thought that maybe Kovacasevics struggled a bit. I thought maybe the games were too big for him and he’s not match fit anyway and after the Bray performance I think Victor deserved a chance and I think I’m justified in playing him.”
Mick feels that the fringe players will keep getting their chances and can only improve with more game time. “The reserve league hasn’t started so that was their first full 90 minutes it’s going to take them a couple of games to get to the pace of the league, it was a big test for them. Galway went to Dalymount and beat Bohemians so it was never going to be easy, they’re a very experienced team.
"Young (Stephen) Trimble done well against Bray in the League Cup and you have to shove them in at some stage. They can’t be training morning, noon and night and not be given a chance, the boys did well at Bray and that’s why I changed things.”
So next up it’s a trip to Bray for the Drogs and a game that they would have been targeting for points but after the Wicklow clubs win in Tallaght it might not be as inviting a fixture than was envisaged a few days ago.
Cooke made wholesale changes to his starting line up following a 4-0 defeat last week to Shamrock Rovers and felt that the drastic surgery served a purpose. “The same players performed well in the League Cup against Bray, I felt that a few players let us down in the previous two games and they (the replacements) deserved a chance. The most pleasing thing was that in the last ten minutes we went to try to win the game. I think at the start of the second half self preservation took over, we were one up and not having won a game we retreated a bit too early to defend a 1-0 lead but it was pleasing that in the last ten minutes that we tried to win the game.”
The Drogs manager hasn’t resigned his team to a season long battle against relegation just yet. “It's early days yet, there are still 30 league games to go, people have been saying to me is this game a six pointer tonight. Maybe if there was six games to go it might be, but with 30 league games to go we still have to play them (Galway) another three times, we’ll play Bray four times. People are putting it down that it’s going to be the four of us (Drogheda, Galway, Bray and UCD) at the bottom but you never know as the season goes on maybe one of the bigger boys will be pulled in to it as well.
"I’m only getting my feet under the table here and it won’t be for the lack of energy or effort by myself, the staff or the players to ensure that we won’t be in the bottom two come November.”
Galway played a direct game in the first half and debutant centre half Victor Ekanem showed up well. “Victor was at Longford last year, he’s done really well in training I thought he’d done exceptionally well against Bray in the League Cup. It was always a toss-up whether we would bring Victor in and I thought that maybe Kovacasevics struggled a bit. I thought maybe the games were too big for him and he’s not match fit anyway and after the Bray performance I think Victor deserved a chance and I think I’m justified in playing him.”
Mick feels that the fringe players will keep getting their chances and can only improve with more game time. “The reserve league hasn’t started so that was their first full 90 minutes it’s going to take them a couple of games to get to the pace of the league, it was a big test for them. Galway went to Dalymount and beat Bohemians so it was never going to be easy, they’re a very experienced team.
"Young (Stephen) Trimble done well against Bray in the League Cup and you have to shove them in at some stage. They can’t be training morning, noon and night and not be given a chance, the boys did well at Bray and that’s why I changed things.”
So next up it’s a trip to Bray for the Drogs and a game that they would have been targeting for points but after the Wicklow clubs win in Tallaght it might not be as inviting a fixture than was envisaged a few days ago.
