Ventre & Rogers ready for Euro challenge

As Sligo Rovers embark on their European journey, captain Danny Ventre and goalkeeper Gary Rogers spoke to ExtraTime.ie on Monday about the challenges ahead.

Ventre, a stalwart in the Bit O’Red squad, has been with the club since 2007 and this Europa League tie is not his first in the Sligo Rovers shirt. He featured against Albanian side KS Vllaznia Shkodër in  2009 and Ukrainian side Vorskla Poltava in 2011. 

Speaking at the unveiling of the new Volkswagon Bank End stand in The Showgrounds, the Liverpool man was looking forward to the game in Trnava.

“Confidence is good, we had a really good win up in Derry(on Friday). The lads are buzzing, they can’t wait for the game. Just want to get over there now and get it over and done with it and see if we can come back with a result.”

Manager Ian Baraclough travelled to Trnava at the weekend to see their opening game of the season and get a feeling of the atmosphere in Slovakia. Ventre, a popular character at The Showgrounds, is optimistic and said Rovers are concentrating on themselves.

“We’re coming into the unknown, we don’t know much about them. The gaffer’s been over to see them and we’ve done a bit today in training on them. We want to look after ourselves and do what we do. 

“If we get a result or win a game, bring it back here and see if we can get through to the next round. I don’t think it’s any different to the other times I’ve played. As I said, it’s going into the unknown but we’re looking after ourselves.”

It was announced yesterday that striker Danny North signed a new deal which will keep him at the club until the end of the 2013 season. The former St. Patrick’s Athletic talisman has netted 17 times for the league leaders this season and joins Jeff Henderson, Seamus Conneely and Ryan Connolly in committing until the end of next season.

Ventre feels that North’s new deal is positive for the future of Sligo Rovers.

“I think it’s good that they’re keeping the type of players like Danny (North) is. Say Padraig Amond, and then Eoin Doyle who did well and ended up record goalscorer. It’s good to see the club keeping those players now.

“They’ve noticed that they can’t just let them go if we want to grow on and be successful, not just for this year, but in the next few years. You’ve got to keep those type of players and it’s good that they’re doing that.”

‘Keeper Gary Rogers is no stranger to European football having played in European games with St. Pat’s all over Europe including Kazakhstan, Malta and Russia. He kept clean sheets in the Saints’ European campaign in 2009 against Valleta FC and FC Krylya Sovetov Samara. When asked about whether or not he is confident about a clean sheet, following a snigger, he answered, “I don’t know about confident but that’s what we’re looking to get.”

“Every game you go into, as a ‘keeper and back four, you’re always looking to keep a clean sheet. Hopefully if we do things right we might be able to keep a clean sheet and nick a goal over there and bring back the away goal.”

The first leg will be played away in Trnava on Thursday with the home leg being played on Thursday week. Rogers feels that playing the first leg away will benefit his team.

“I think it benefited us (St. Pats) last year. We went away in the first two games and got beat one nil away in IBV and came back to Inchicore and won 2-0. It worked out to our advantage and it’s nice to go away and get an idea of what the team is like and play them on their patch and then bring it back to our own place. Hopefully with a good crowd here, I know they’re looking for ticket sales, we’ll be able to get a result.”