Russell - We'll pick ourselves up
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After bouncing back successfully from their drubbing against Derry City with a 3-0 victory last Monday against Galway United, UCD were again on the receiving end of a defeat in Bray on Friday when a late Conor Murphy goal handed the home side all three points in the Carlisle Grounds.
Understandably this came as something of a disappointment to UCD boss Martin Russell, though he did accept that they didn't play well in the second half after being rather impressive during the opening period.
“Disappointed. We didn't play well second half. We played well first half, I thought we might have come away with a point, but it's never over till it's over. I thought Paul (O'Conor) had a great game, other than the mistake (for the second goal). But, we'll pick ourselves up again”, Russell commented.
The Belfield-outfit were on top of things from the point Dean Marshall equalised with a penalty on 20 minutes until half-time, and Russell feels that they could have capitalised during this period. The UCD supremo reckons a lot of this can be chalked down to inexperience, which has been somewhat forced upon them because of the number of injuries within the squad.
“Yeah, we maybe could have capitalised then. We had our most inexperienced side tonight, for different reasons due to injuries and so forth. We had players out tonight for various different things, so we've ended up not being the most experienced side”.
“For a fair amount of the first half they did great, the second half they tired a little bit. You know, we've got areas we need to keep working on. Again we always look at the positives and the experience, and that tonight will only help them hopefully”.
Had UCD won this game they would have closed the gap between themselves and The Seagulls to one point, and even though it was obviously a set-back to see Pat Devlin's side widening the gap between the two teams, Russell is nonetheless adamant that they continue to push on from here and not let defeats like this get them down.
“As I said last week our objective was to catch Bray today, and we'll still go on from here and not look too far behind us. There were some good things and some bad things”.
“It's not easy in the Premier Division, particularly with the crop of players that we have. To go and do what they've done, get nine out of twelve points, is credible to them. But we won't stop, we'll keep going”, Russell concluded.
Understandably this came as something of a disappointment to UCD boss Martin Russell, though he did accept that they didn't play well in the second half after being rather impressive during the opening period.
“Disappointed. We didn't play well second half. We played well first half, I thought we might have come away with a point, but it's never over till it's over. I thought Paul (O'Conor) had a great game, other than the mistake (for the second goal). But, we'll pick ourselves up again”, Russell commented.
The Belfield-outfit were on top of things from the point Dean Marshall equalised with a penalty on 20 minutes until half-time, and Russell feels that they could have capitalised during this period. The UCD supremo reckons a lot of this can be chalked down to inexperience, which has been somewhat forced upon them because of the number of injuries within the squad.
“Yeah, we maybe could have capitalised then. We had our most inexperienced side tonight, for different reasons due to injuries and so forth. We had players out tonight for various different things, so we've ended up not being the most experienced side”.
“For a fair amount of the first half they did great, the second half they tired a little bit. You know, we've got areas we need to keep working on. Again we always look at the positives and the experience, and that tonight will only help them hopefully”.
Had UCD won this game they would have closed the gap between themselves and The Seagulls to one point, and even though it was obviously a set-back to see Pat Devlin's side widening the gap between the two teams, Russell is nonetheless adamant that they continue to push on from here and not let defeats like this get them down.
“As I said last week our objective was to catch Bray today, and we'll still go on from here and not look too far behind us. There were some good things and some bad things”.
“It's not easy in the Premier Division, particularly with the crop of players that we have. To go and do what they've done, get nine out of twelve points, is credible to them. But we won't stop, we'll keep going”, Russell concluded.
About Daire Walsh
Daire Walsh began reporting for Extratime in 2009, when he covered Kildare County's games in the League Of Ireland First Division. He currently reports on games involving the league's Dublin sides and also Bray Wanderers. … View Full Profile