Sluggish City suffer stinging loss to Shels

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City returned off the back of a scoreless draw on TV against St Pats and were looking to go one better as they travelled to Tolka Park to take on Shelbourne. The Drumcondra outfit were playing their first game after the announcement that Joey O’Brien will become their permanent manager on a long-term basis. As for City, they were fresh off the news of the signing of David Odumosu for an undisclosed fee from Cliftonville. Despite it being stated that Odumosu was expected to be ready for the game in Tolka Park, the keeper could only watch this one from the stands.

Ger Nash made just one change from the draw in the Cross last time out, with Conor Brann in for the now departed Tein Troost. Rory Feely, Fiacre Kelleher and Charlie Lutz all started on the bench.

Joey O’Brien made five changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Galway last time out, with Gannon, Chapman, Boyd, kelly and Temple all dropping out, being replaced by Coyle, Coote, McInroy, Caffrey and Barrett.

The hosts started on the front foot and it only took two minutes for a City calamity at the back to give Shels the lead. Charlie Lyons tried to hook a ball down the line but was closed down and blocked by Harry Wood. Wood’s block played him through on goal against Brann, and Wood dinked the ball past the City keeper to give Shels an early lead.

It only got better for Shelbourne as more City defensive woes, coupled with brilliant passing play gave Shels their second, just four minutes later. Harry Wood slipped the ball down the line for Even Caffrey, who got down the flank before shifting it back to Wood in the right channel. Wood pulled the ball across the box to Mipo Odubeko and the striker took a touch and buried it into the bottom right corner to double his side’s lead.

Shels continued to dominate and came close to a third in the eighteenth minute. Ali Coote played a lovely one two with Harry Wood at the edge of the box, with Coote then releasing a powerful shot that had to be pushed over by Conor Brann.

Shels should've had a third a minute later. A slow pass from Sean Murray to Freddie Anderson was picked off by Mipo Odubeko and Mipo latched onto it and bore down on goal. Brann came out to meet him and Mipo guided the ball past Brann, but also inches past the right hand post and somehow the lead stayed at two goals.

City were just about hanging on but came close to conceding a third with seven minutes left in the half. Kerr McInroy fed Harry Wood, who then jinked past two or three City players at the edge of the box before releasing a shot which deflected towards the far corner, but Conor Brann got a hand to it to keep the ball out.

Despite the sufferings, City managed to claw a goal back before half time. A corner towards the back post was flicked across goal by Charlie Lyons but the ball was deftly nodded away. It came to Freddie Anderson with his back to goal, before the American laid it off to Kitt Nelson who fired the ball into the far left corner to bring his team back into the game.

Shels went in search of restoring their two goal lead before half time, and came close to doing so in the last minute of normal time. McInroy found Ali Coote on the left wing. Coote took on Milan Mbeng before cutting inside and curling a shot towards the far corner, but his effort just whistled past the post.

That was that for an action packed first half, that left a struggling City side needing a serious improvement to recover the game.

The second half began slightly better after the half time introductions of Evan McLaughlin and Malik Dijksteel, but City suffered a blow after just four minutes of the second half. A poor Charlie Lyons touch put the ball between him and Kerr McInroy, with Lyons sliding in and winning the ball, but following through on the ankle of the Shels midfielder. Lyons earnt a yellow for the tackle, but his words to referee Rob Harvey earned him a second yellow and meant City were down to ten men.

Shels managed the game quite well from there restricting the visitors to very few chances. Meanwhile, the hosts almost found a third with twenty minutes to go. Harry Wood delivered a peach of a cross from far out on the right hand side towards the back post, where it met the oncoming James Norris who was wide open, but sent his volley narrowly wide of the far post.

The hosts weren’t quite done for the night and finally bagged a third goal with seven minutes to go. A Shels corner went over everyone and out to the right corner flag. It was picked up by JJ Lunney who whipped an inswinging cross into the box, and his cross somehow went all the way through the City defence and nestled into the bottom left corner.

That was the last real action of the night as City fell to yet another disappointing defeat this time at the hands of Shelbourne. It was a display that can’t be put down to the owner, or fans or anything of that sort. Simply put, we weren't good enough. Again. The team selection didn’t fill me with confidence, and in the end I was proven justified. The first half performance was horrendous and were it not for some poor finishing from Shelbourne and a brilliant finish from Kitt Nelson City could have easily found themselves three or four goals down by half time. There was a slight improvement in the second half, especially with the introduction of Fiacre Kelleher who was immense at the back despite the defensive frailties shown in the game already. Ironically enough we were noticeably better after the red card but the game was out of reach really by that stage even at 2-1. The third goal was another example of the defensive problem City have suffered with all season. Without serious improvement for the Waterford and Sligo games we could be even further adrift, so we need to pull it together to give ourselves a chance of staying up.

My Man of the Match goes to Shelbourne’s Harry Wood. Wood was absolutely electric on the right wing and at times took the mick out of City. He was the bright spark in the Shelbourne attack and created serious issues all night for Shels. If he brings that form into their Champions League tie against Linfield, they'll have a serious chance of advancing

City will look to bounce back in a huge game against Waterford in the RSC on Friday, but City also have a friendly against Celtic on Tuesday in Pairc Ui Chaoimh to deal with before that, As for Shelbourne, they host Linfield in a Champions League first leg qualifier on Wednesday.