Late equaliser denies City all three points

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Cork City were on a high after defeating their Munster rivals Waterford 2-1 at Turner’s Cross last time out. The Rebel Army were looking to keep up their good form as they travelled to the north west to take on fellow relegation rivals Sligo Rovers. 

Tim Clancy made one change from his side that took the field in the Munster derby, with derby hero Kitt Nelson coming into the side, replacing the injured Greg Bolger.

As for Rovers, John Russell named an unchanged eleven to the side that fell to a 3-0 defeat to Derry in the Brandywell last time out.

The game got off to a quick start that saw the hosts come close to taking an early lead just three minutes in. Will Fitzgrelad received the ball out on the left wing but cut inside and ran centrally before laying the ball to Jad Hakiki at the edge of the box. Hakiki attempted to bend one but his shot curled marginally past the post.

I’ll be honest, the following forty minutes of football was very very uneventful and with both teams putting in visibly below par performances, neither team had the cutting edge to create any noteworthy chances.

That streak was broken with two minutes of normal time to go in the half as the hosts got a decent chance on target. Jake Doyle-Hayes floated a free kick towards the back post where Gareth McElroy got a header goalward but it was easily dealt with by Tein Troost.

That would be the last event of an incredibly dull first half with both teams putting in poor performances and neither team really getting a sniff of a goal bar the Hakiki chance early on.

The second half though is where the game, despite both teams still being fairly poor, picked up a bit with about fifteen minutes to play as both sides sensed their own need for a goal. 

This time it was the visitors with the first proper chance of the half with fifteen minutes to play (yes it took that long for a notable thing to happen). Milan Mbeng got down the right hand side before playing a ball across the box to Kitt Nelson. Nelson, with his back to goal, laid it off to the oncoming Cathal O’Sullivan who fired a shot just wide of the left hand post.

The deadlock was finally broken after seventy seven minutes, and it was the hosts who took the lead. Matty Kiernan bombed down the left wing and got to the byline before firing a ball across the six yard box. The ball was just behind the oncoming Djenairo Daniels who went tumbling forward and got a nick on the ball before it arrived at the back post to Kitt Nelson who fired the ball past Sam Sargeant in the Sligo goal to give the visitors a hugely vital lead.

City’s life would be made harder as a moment of madness from Josh Fitzpatrick where the City substitute seemed to try and headbutt Sligo’s Sean Mallon, which made Rob Harvey give Fitzpatrick his marching orders and force his side to try to protect their lead with just ten men.

City kept the hosts out up until the final minute of normal time, where Sligo would get their much needed equaliser. A ball floated to the back post was headed back across goal by a wide open Owen Elding, whose header fell to Francely Lomboto who poked the ball home to level up the game. 

That would be that and both sides ended the game all square in a game devoid of any real game-defining quality. Tempers flared after full time which saw Sligo Rovers coach Ryan Casey and Cork City goalkeeping coach Anthony Fennelly both shown red cards. Cork City were quite poor in their performance again which adds to the streak of performances of the calibre that we know is below what they can put out. The team’s inability to hold onto a lead has become a real worry as we have dropped the most points from winning positions in the league (fourteen). Although to be fair, there was a defining factor for it this time around as a silly action from Josh Fitzpatrick meant that City had to defend with ten men. That doesnt make up for the under par performance for the rest of the game or the fact that Elding had a wide open header for the goal, but you can't help but think that if we had eleven players on the pitch at that point, we might've gotten away with all three points.

As for Sligo, they were also quite unimpressive. Like Cork City, they had some alright spells in the game, specifically the first and last ten minutes of the game. They  did however show large issues and problems that were they playing a better team, or even a less injury riddled Cork City side, would've been exposed far better.

My man of the match goes to Cork City’s Darragh Crowley. To be honest, no one on either team was particularly all that amazing, but for the second game in a row I've been impressed with Darragh Crowley’s performance as a centre back. His mobility and awareness are big strengths of his and he was able to cover a lot of ground and make some important interventions for City throughout the game.

City will hope to right some wrongs of the last few games as they host Shamrock Rovers in Turner’s Cross on Friday Night. For Sligo, they host Drogheda United live on Virgin Media, also on Friday night.