City ridden rock solid against Rovers

📷 KBD Photos

City returned to the Cross for the first time since that win over Bohs, with the Rebel Army welcoming Sligo Rovers to Leeside. City were coming off the back of a disappointing 2-1 loss away to rivals Waterford in the RSC on Monday, and Tim Clancy’s side were looking to right some wrongs of Monday’s defeat, despite Clancy serving a suspension after his controversial sending off.

With the injuries and suspensions sustained in Waterford, Jamie Hamill made three changes to the side that took to the field in the RSC, with Freddie Anderson missing out due to suspension, while Seani Maguire and Greg Bolger were nursing injuries picked up in Monday’s match. They were replaced by Milan Mbeng, Rio Shipston and Sean Murray.

As for the visitors, they made two changes to the side that beat Shamrock 2-1 at the Showgrounds. Doyle-Hayes and McElroy dropped to the bench, being replaced by Wolfe and Denham.

City started the better of the two teams in general, but the absence of Seani Maguire up front made City’s attacks look a bit one-dimensional at times. As for Rovers, they definitely had less of the ball, but with the absence of Greg Bolger they were able to cause City problems on the counter attack, with the Bit O’Red finding a bit of joy in the wide areas sending crosses in the City box.

Sligo capitalised on this vulnerability and took the lead with twenty five minutes gone. Matthew Wolfe picked up the ball in midfield and sprayed a ball out the right hand side to Harvey Lintott. Lintott set himself and whipped a perfect cross into the City box, which was met by the head of Owen Elding, who looped a header into the top left corner to give the visitors the advantage.

Sligo’s goal allowed them to sit tighter and to let City try to break them down. The home side struggled to create a defence piercing chance to level the game. 

That was, until four minutes before halftime. Benny Couto played the ball to the left wing to Milan Mbeng. Mbeng cut inside and whipped a cross into the box that was headed up into the air by Ollie Denham. The ball landed on top of a group of four players: Connor Walsh, John Mahon, Will Fitzgerald and Charlie Lyons. Connor Walsh goes to try to claim it but fails to do so, so the ball lands on Charlie Lyons and into the back of the net. Lyons’ celebrations were quickly dampened however, as the linesman somehow judged that Connor Walsh was fouled and flagged to disallow the goal, which the referee did.

Thanks to that, City went into halftime a goal down and with room for some improvements in certain areas, but the hosts had every chance of getting back in the game, with a bit of luck.

That luck was nowhere to be seen, as again City were on the wrong end of a poor decision two minutes into the second half. Malik Dijksteel and Sean Murray linked up well in midfield before laying it to Ruairi Keating at the edge of the box. Keating took the ball down the right channel before attempting to cross it into the box. However, his cross never made it to the box as it clearly struck the trailing arm of Reece Hutchinson as the defender went to block the cross. Yet somehow, neither the referee or the linesman flagged for a foul and Rovers got away with one again.

City came close to an equaliser in the fiftieth minute, but were denied by Connor Walsh. Benny Couto whipped an enticing ball into the box from a free kick on the left hand side of the box. The cross was met by Charlie Lyons, who directed his header towards the bottom right corner, but Connor Walsh was equal to it to preserve Rovers’ lead.

City couldn't catch a break, and they fell victim to yet another horrendous refereeing decision seven minutes later, and this one was possibly the worst of the lot. A Benny Couto free kick from the right wing was lofted to the back post, where it was nodded down by Charlie Lyons. The ball fell to Sean Murray in the box, whose shot was impressively blocked by Harvey Lintott. The rebound fell to Ruairi Keating, with his shot being superbly saved by Rovers centre back John Mahon with a save that Alisson Becker would've been proud of. But, yet again, the referee and linesman didn't budge and City were somehow denied another clear penalty.

City kept persevering, and finally found an equaliser in the sixty-second minute. Malik Dijksteel played a good one two with Rio Shipston around the Rovers area, before laying it to Alex Nolan. Nolan drove down the right channel before pulling it across towards the pen spot to Kitt Nelson, who took a touch and buried his shot into the bottom left corner to get the hosts level.

City were given even more hope of a winner six minutes later. Kitt Nelson won the ball back in midfield and charge forward before playing it out wide to Malik Dijksteel by the sideline. Dijksteel flicked the ball past Conor Reynolds, but Reynolds sent a flying slide tackle into the Dutchman, who crashed against the side concrete wall. City fans were incensed and even the referee knew that Reynolds had to be given his marching orders.

Despite the man advantage, the absence of Seani Maguire meant that City seemed to find it difficult to create any big chances to try and put Rovers to bed.

That was until additional time, where every City fan in the stadium thought that their side had nabbed a late winner. Milan Mbeng played Alex Nolan down the right wing, where Nolan beat his man, cut inside and released a powerful shot towards goal that was pushed away by Connor Walsh at full stretch. The rebound fell to Josh Fitzpatrick in the box, whose shot was once again saved by the onrushing Connor Walsh. City managed to win it again and work it around before the ball landed at the feet of Milan Mbeng at the edge of the box. Mbeng let fly from distance and forced a third brilliant save from Connor Walsh to keep the game level.

And with that, the full time whistle blew and it was a point a piece in Turners Cross. Cork City weren’t as impressive as they've shown so far this season, likely down to the major absences, but they were the better team on the night in my opinion. City were missing the general that is Greg Bolger in the midfield, as they again struggled at times to grip that area of the pitch and keep the pressure on the Rovers midfield. The big struggle came in the final third, where they found it difficult to create a big chance, and when they did it was in vain as it was inevitably called as a free kick to Rovers. From handballs to ghost fouls, City were done extremely dirtily in my opinion and really could have walked away with three or four goals. Do I think City played well enough to have scored four? Not particularly. But the way in which we were denied those goals/penalties were disappointing. The decisions are evidently incorrect when looking back at replays, but even in the stadium they could be seen by everyone, so it's frustrating when none are given.

As for Rovers, they were quite poor for parts of the game, but they were given a relatively easy time of it, compared to what could've been had City had a full strength team. Harvey Lintott had some joy down the right hand side, especially in the first half, and they were able to send crosses into the City box to cause some trouble. Owen Elding took his goal well, but overall they will feel very lucky and quite pleased to come away with a point.

My Man of the Match goes to Milan Mbeng. Benny Couto can feel quite aggrieved to miss out here. But I was thoroughly impressed with Mbengs performance at centre half. For a man who has only played twenty five minutes this season, he looked incredibly comfortable on the ball and got around the defence well and dealt with the majority of attacks that Rovers sent at him. Even towards the end, he was able to get down the right hand side and deliver some of the better crosses we saw from City on the night.

City will have to move past this frustrating night, as they travel to Tolka Park to take on bitter rivals Shelbourne at 7.45pm. As for Sligo Rovers, they host Derry City at the Showgrounds on Saturday at 7.45pm.