Reaction to Rathriland Game

Q - Ok Robbie, a 4-0 loss to the Rathriland Rangers at Crystal Park today on a wet windy day. The main talking point going into today's game was, can we respond to your heavy defeat at Mayola Park last time. With that performance, did we respond today?

A - Yeah, 100%. Like I said, after the Moyola game, I probably questioned a couple of the players in the dressing room about their work ethic when we went into that second half. The players themselves kind of came and said that they could have done a little bit better on that as well, but today I couldn't fault anybody out there. Even the substitutes that came on, the players that were there from the start that were excellent.

Really, really proud of what way we went about it considering the last time we would have played against them. Huge improvements, huge bounce back from the boys. It sounds crazy to say that, I'm happy with a 4-0 defeat, but like I said, the score was 9-0 last time, there was huge improvements out there.

Q - More of a togetherness out there today with the boys and they really went for each other and for the club and support, so I was really happy with that. I suppose the story of the game was, we were on the back foot for the majority of the game under heavy pressure, but I suppose were you expecting that going into the game? Does that explain the formation change today as well?

A - Yeah, well the formation that we're playing is one that when I first came in I wanted to try and go with due to the way I like to play and getting the players in that we've got in recently, it gave us a chance to go and try that. In the situation we're in, we know that we need to be hard to break down, we need to be hard to get through.

At times we're going to have to sit off and do that side of the game. It's not always pretty for young players in that dressing room, it's probably a little bit tougher to do because they like to run around and get after them, but like I said, the shape and all today that the boys put in, the way they ran, I can't fault that. Compared to how I felt after my old game, it's like chalk and cheese today.

Q - For our first two goals in the game that came in the first half, it came from mistakes probably, does that make it easier to process or more difficult to process? It just seems to be our way. I think we probably give away chances like that in games just due to us being a little bit inexperienced. Probably at times we just switch off.

A - The first goal, we have a free kick on the edge of the box, we don't beat the first man and then they've just gone and countered us. The second one, we're trying to clear the ball out of the box. I think it's probably typical in the situation we're in, it hits one of our defenders and just drops straight in the middle of the box again.

We're not going to make excuses as far as the lads know themselves, they need to do better in those situations. I feel like individual mistakes is a lot of learning for the lads to do this year and definitely individual mistakes in the first half cost us to be 2-0 down a half time. On a more positive note, three of our signings made their debuts today.

Q - Luke Povell, Rory O'Connor and Kian McCaughey, the last of whom was awarded Man of the Match today. Some thoughts on how they played today?

A - Luke and Rory were excellent at the back. Logan Sands has come back from injury as well, he's gone straight into that.

The three of them played well together in that back three. You'd swear that they'd played and trained together for the last few months. I don't think all three of them have trained together yet, so the fact they were able to go out on the pitch and perform like that against an experienced striker like Stephen McCavitt.

He was a pain the last time he played. We tried our best to keep him quiet, but the boys were excellent today. I think for anyone that was here today, his performance, his attitude, his walk on the ball, his walk off the ball, I think we're lucky that we were able to get that one over the line.

I'm really happy with getting all of them in and I'm really happy that the three of them came in today and had such a positive impact on the team.

Q - Just away from the three lads, are there any other takeaways from today's game in advance of a big game against Ballyclare, Dixon Park?

A - Yeah, just basically, we tried to play our football. We tried to play out from the back of times on a pitch that probably wasn't great for it again today.

That's the kind of DNA we're trying to build in the club. The lads aren't shying away from that. The lads aren't going to pitches and coming up with excuses.

They want to do that. Just getting minutes into the legs and the lads playing together in that way because, like I said, they probably haven't all trained together much. We've no game next weekend so that gives us a chance of an extra training day for everyone to get together and really work.

Today, positives all around. Like I said, my last game, I was probably a little bit harsh on the players when I came out, but today, I couldn't be prouder. If we can bring performances like what we've done today all over for 90 minutes minus the individual mistakes, it's definitely a positive way for us to be going.