Town made work hard by tail-enders
LEINSTER SENIOR LGE DROGHEDA TOWN..........1 GREYSTONES...................0
Wednesday March 17 2010
DROGHEDA secured a valuable three points against bottom-of-the-table Greystones at Marian Park on Friday night last.
Indeed, overall, the home side will be grateful as the Wicklow men belied their lowly position and made it difficult from start to finish for Town.
Despite controlling the early period of the game, Greystones were dangerous on the break and looked to have gone ahead on 21 minutes when Declan Breslin was on hand to score when Town keeper Alan Connor could only parry a shot. This goal was subsequently disallowed for offside, a decision that seemed to leave Greystones hard done by.
The rest of the half was dominated by both defences, with chances at a premium.
The second half Town started better and they got more into the game and they carved out a number of chances.
One of these was created by Martin Smith who sent a terrific cross from the byeline which appeared to be going in, but it needed a touch to find the net and unfortunately the ball went narrowly wide.
Town's best chance came on 54 minutes when Trevor Harding broke into the Greystones penalty area and was upended. The penalty claim went unheeded by the referee, much to the amazement of the Town management.
Town were enjoying the lion's share of possession as a resilient Greystones placed most of their team behind the ball.
Efforts from Smith, Davie McDonnell and Harding failed to penetrate the back four, but what proved to be the only score of the game came on 76 minutes when the influential Harding again appeared in the penalty area.
He was brought down, and this time the penalty was awarded. Smith coolly dispatched the resulting penalty to the corner of the net.
Town had a number of chances to increase their lead, but as Greystones always looked dangerous on the break and with two minutes to go another fine move sent Gavin Brennan clear, and with only the goalkeeper to beat, the keeper saved as he tried to chip him.
Next Sunday Town face Senior Division leaders Crumlin United in the FAI Senior Cup first round – kickoff 2pm. DROGHEDA TOWN: Alan Connor, Graham Reynolds, Martin Cummins, Stephen Henry, Derek Thornton, Aaron Comerford, Richard Gibney, Trevor Harding, Gavin Brennan, Martin Smith, Davie McDonnell. Subs: Andrew Tinley for Comerford, John Downey for Reynolds, Stephen Garry, Ronan Quinn, Martin Cassidy.
