Stuart Ashton - We are due a bit of luck but the good part is that we have a lot of good young players

Andrew Dempsey reports from Stradbrook Road

Cobh Ramblers boss Stuart Ashton admitted that he took positives from his side’s eventual one-nil defeat on Friday evening away to league leaders Cabinteely.

The Rams, despite dominating much of the first-half, were thwarted by the Cabinteely defence and the heroics of Cabo keeper Mick Kelly.

“Credit to the lad, he (Mick Kelly) pulled some good saves off there, but from that point of view we just need a bit of luck,” Ashton told extratime.com.

“From mine, and the coaching staff’s points of view, we can only keep praising those things and hopefully we can get that bounce of the ball and rub of the green.”

For Cobh fans, the result will draw parallels to their previous defeat in South Dublin, when they succumbed to a late defeat against UCD.

“The game against UCD – if I’m not mistaken – their winner came from a free-kick on the halfway line in the last minute,” Ashton added.

“They just knocked one in the box as any team would and it’s bobbled into the net. We’re due a bit of luck but the good part is that we have a lot of good young players and we’re playing good football in patches.

“We have to bring that into a full game, and we have to cut out what’s costing us. Tonight again, unfortunately, whether we were the better team or not, we’ve lost.”

However, the former Cobh assistant to Stephen Henderson has faith in his squad to turn their misfortune around.



“We’ll be going for the win against whoever we’re playing. We think we have enough about us to match most teams in this division, but we’ve got to cut those silly mistakes out.

“If we do go a goal behind, we’ve got to show the character that we’re good enough to believe in what we’re doing and get something out of a game.”