Tim Clancy reflects on first defeat of the 2022 season

St. Patrick’s Athletic manager Tim Clancy reflected on his side’s performance after his side were beaten by Sligo Rovers on Friday night.

Colm Horgan and former Saint Aidan Keena put the visitors ahead before Tunde Owolabi came off the bench to score and put his side back in the game. The crossbar denied Joe Redmond a 93rd minute equaliser as the Saints lost for the first time this season.

After keeping a clean sheet away at Shelbourne last weekend, West-Ham loanee Joseph Anang produced some sublime saves in front of a packed Richmond Park. Clancy praised the 22-year-old’s quality between the sticks

Clancy told extratime.com “Joe is an excellent young keeper with a lot of potential. He pulled off two or three magnificent saves there. His distribution is excellent as well. He’ll be frustrated with conceding two goals as well.”

Reflecting on his first home game of 2022, Clancy admitted that despite hitting the post late on, his side never really found their rhythm until they were 2-0 down. 

“It was probably a fair result in the end. They got a couple of goals on the break. They looked very dangerous when the turned the ball over. We didn’t really got going until we went 2-0 down which was frustrating.”

“Joe Redmond had a header off the post, and we had a couple of other chances near the end. If we had of got away with a 2-2 we would have been the happier of the two.” 

“I thought when we moved the ball quicker in the second half we had a bit of joy. The second goal was frustrating because it was something we had spoken about in the first half.”

“They got a little luck (for Keena’s goal) when Joe gets a block, it bounces into the ground and goes over the keeper. It’s frustrating but there’s a lot to work on going into Monday, we don’t have time to dwell on it.”

The Saints next outing is against last year’s cup final opponents Bohemians at Dalymount Park on Monday night.