Limerick manager Neil McDonald could afford to smile after his side defeated Bray Wanderers 5-3 at Markets Field, in what marked the Englishman’s first win at home since arriving on Shannonside. The Super Blues required a late thunderbolt from Bastie
Limerick manager Neil McDonald could afford to smile after his side defeated Bray Wanderers 5-3 at Markets Field, in what marked the Englishman’s first win at home since arriving on Shannonside. The Super Blues required a late thunderbolt from Bastien Hery to hit the front, in an enthralling game of football in the Markets Field.
“It’s nice to score a lot of goals, create a lot of chances and we were very clinical with the chances we got. Going two-nil up and then letting them back into the game we’ve let them off the hook to be fair.”
McDonald acknowledged that his side have work to do, “They’ve kept on going and kept on trying to do the right thing which is great. They’ve ended up scoring five goals to win the game which is great. We’ve still a lot of work to do on the defensive side trying to sure up and keep a clean sheet if we can. If we don’t we’ve got to score more than the opposition and we certainly did that today.”
Limerick conceded twice after a failure to clear a cross, something which also happened against Bohemians and Finn Harps. “They’ve crossed in two into the box to score. Space does not score, men do. We need to make contact with people inside the box but we’ve also got to stop the cross coming in.”
Chiedozie Ogbene won the man-of-the-match award, after being moved centrally in a 3-5-2 formation “He’s got the pace and Rodrigo (Tosi) complements him by holding the ball up and flicking it on and we caused problems by getting in behind - I saw that (with Bray) against Shamrock Rovers the other day. We’ve been able to get him in behind and create chances - and he took his two goals very well.”
With the transfer window approaching, McDonald is continuing to assess his options “We need to analyse the whole of the team to strengthen all over.” He added “But certainly the defensive side we need to get a lot smarter, working on the training ground to improve the players we have or if we can add another defender to give that bit of experience and nous that’ll be good.”
Limerick have a fortnight off, before a trip to Munster rivals and runaway leaders Cork City, a break that McDonald doesn’t desire, “I could do without the mid-season break but that’s the way it is, we’ll deal with it when they come back. We’ve set the players a programme to work on, they’ll enjoy their holidays but it’s not a jolly up. They’ve got to be professional. They’ve worked hard over the last 12 days so if they waste that they’ll be in big trouble.”
Limerick remain sixth after the last nights victory, but they’ve closed the gap on Shamrock Rovers and Bray Wanderers thanks to their third home win of the season.
