Drogheda United captain Jake Hyland spoke of his side's "bitter disappointment" after they secured a last-gasp 2-2 draw with Cabinteely at Stradbrook Road on Friday night. After falling behind to Karl Managhan and Keith Dalton strikes in the space
Drogheda United captain Jake Hyland spoke of his side's "bitter disappointment" after they secured a last-gasp 2-2 draw with Cabinteely at Stradbrook Road on Friday night.
After falling behind to Karl Managhan and Keith Dalton strikes in the space of two first half minutes, a Sean Brennan penalty reduced the deficit on the stroke of half-time. Later, Drogheda snatched a point through a Ciarán Kelly strike, which was effectively the last kick of the game.
"We were happy to get the equaliser but from our point of view it wasn't good enough," Hyland said. "We can't start a game like that and give them a two goal lead. We knew it was going to be tough coming here and we're bitterly disappointed. It's just bittersweet that we got the point but we would have much preferred all three."
The 23-year-old felt that his side were careless in the first half after a bright start which saw Conor Kane go close to opening the scoring with a header.
"I think we started the game really well and just took our foot off the gas. There were a couple of sloppy decisions and we let them in for two goals. We're better than that, we can't allow team to do that because it gives us an uphill challenge but I think it's a testament to us that we were able to come back and get two goals and salvage a point out of it."
Hyland said his side is now completely focused on returning to the Premier Division at the first time of asking.
"The aim is to get promoted, 100%. We've three games left, two home games and an away game to try and secure the playoffs and hopefully kick on."
Drogheda host Waterford in the FAI Cup next week before returning to league action at home to UCD at the end of the month.
