Tony Cousins Seeing Improvements in Longford Side

Extratime.ie reporter Liam O'Grady caught up with Longford Town manager Tony Cousins following his Longford Town side’s elimination from the Leinster Senior Cup at the hands of Wexford Youths on Monday night.

With both teams fielding fringe players and the fixture extending to extra-time, it wasn’t something that had the Dubliner too downhearted as his aim is still firmly on the league.

“It was a 2-1 game, I’m not too worried about it, we played a lot of young players and I’m pleased with them,” Cousins told extratime.ie.

“A few played really well. We were pleased to get Don Cowan back out and bar him the rest were all under 21. We’d a few chances and overall it was a good game and our lads worked hard.”

With regards to the league, Longford have been somewhat unlucky since their opening day victory - against none other than Wexford Youths.

A draw against Bray aside, one could point to narrow defeats against Finn Harps and St Patrick’s Athletic as a sign of competitiveness.

Cousins feels that his team are still finding their feet and have been hindered by injury thus far this season, but feels that better form is on the horizon.

“It’s been a difficult time for us with suspensions and injuries, we’re starting to see light at the end of the tunnel, we’ve another two back training tomorrow,” Cousins revealed.

“We feel if we get our strongest panel back together we can put a few wins together.”

With Ayman Ben Mohamed and Gary Shaw departing for Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers respectively, Longford were always going to have to rejig their attacking approach.

David O’Sullivan and Josh O’Hanlon have to shoulder that burden but it’s within their remit according to their manager.

“Our new front two are a new partnership and they have to learn to link up together, that’s why I played them tonight. They’re a threat, I have no doubt they will score goals.

“They just have to start reading each other’s’ games and the goals will come,” Cousins concluded.

Longford have home comforts for their next league match as they attempt to give the City Calling Stadium regulars their first win of the season, an assignment that couldn’t be tougher, as a Dundalk team determined to buck a bad run of form of their own visit the Midlands on Saturday night.