13 March 2017
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Cork City FC will hope to continue their good start to the season on tonight, as they welcome Sligo Rovers to Turner’s Cross.
City made it three wins from three on Friday night, with a 4-1 win away to Drogheda United. The visitors, meanwhile, picked up their first point of the season on Friday with a 1-1 draw at home to St. Patrick’s Athletic.
This will be John Caulfield’s side’s second league outing at Turner’s Cross this season, their first resulted in a 4-0 win over Galway United. Last season, the sides met on three occasions, with Sligo holding the upper hand. The sides played out two scoreless draws at The Showgrounds, either side of a 2-1 Sligo win on Leeside.
Speaking to the media ahead of the game, City boss John Caulfield said he was pleased with how his side had done so far this season: “You need fellas chomping at the bit; if you lose a fella through suspension or injury or loss of form, you need fellas on the sideline waiting to come in and keep the quality up.”
“We probably have more attacking options this season and we are playing that way because we feel that teams will come down and sit back, so we need to open them up. We do a lot of work on forward play, but the main thing is that we have a lot of guys who can get goals, which does help.”
“It has been a good start for us. The supporters have only seen us at home once in the league and, while a Monday night isn’t ideal for people, we have had a good start and we are hoping that the fans will come out and support us again. I think this team is special and I think it is important that the fans get behind them right from the start, which I think they have done already, because we will need that if we are to be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.”
“Sligo have a lot of pace and energy because they have a lot of youth in their team. They are very dangerous on the counter, so they will be a threat but we are working on our own ways of breaking them down and creating chances. It is another three points on offer and we are at home, so it really is about us treating tomorrow as another massive match and we need to be at it from the start.”
On the injury front, Caulfield confirmed that Stephen Dooley, Jimmy Keohane, Alan Bennett and Seán Maguire will all be assessed ahead of the game. John Kavanagh is also back in training but won’t be considered for selection tomorrow night.
