Cobh boss Stuart Ashton laments missed chances as his side fall to late defeat

Andrew Dempsey reports from the UCD Bowl

Cobh Ramblers boss Stuart Ashton has rued his side’s prolificacies’ in front of goal as his side fell to a late defeat against UCD.

Yoyo Mahdy’s late winner was the difference between the sides, despite a commanding display from the Rams.

“We had most of the possession – we had the better of the game for about eighty minutes or so. We had possession, we created chances, but we had no finishes on the end of it,” Ashton said after the game.  

“We then got caught with a sucker punch. A ball got put into the box, which we didn’t deal with a couple of times and we were punished for it.”

He added on the lack of a clinical edge up front; “If you put it like that, yes. Every team needs to score goals to win games so from that point of view - yes.

“We need to address that. Tonight, we created chances but again nobody got on the end of them. We put some great balls in the box and unfortunately, we didn’t have people who wanted to score/commit.

“They didn’t want to die for the cause, it was all nicey-nicey runs into the box so to speak.”

While one may suggest that may go down to inexperience of his side – he stressed the need for a regular goalscoring striker for his side.

“Everyone is looking for a striker, they’re like gold dust. They’re young lads, and we’re hopefully teaching them their trade so to speak for bigger and better things.

“Hopefully that will come with time. If we can get a 25 goal a season scorer – we’ll get one – but do you know one (laughs)?”

He soon finished; “It’s that cutting edge that we’re missing. We’re creating chances, which is important and from that point of view we’re going in the right direction.

“Again, it’s still early days. We’ve had tough games – obviously nobody wants to lose games and we’re the same. We’re bitterly disappointed, and the worst scenario should have been a draw.”