Henderson is thrilled with point at UCD
STEPHEN KENNY’S 62nd-minute penalty proved crucial last Friday in Belfield, when Cobh Ramblers played out a 1-1 draw with UCD in the SSE Airtricity League First Division, writes DAIRE WALSH.
With eight points gained from the last 12 available, Cobh have now moved up to sixth place in the second-tier table.
Ramblers manager Stephen Henderson has suffered just one defeat (to UCC in the EA Sports Cup) since returning to the club on March 30, and he is delighted to see his side moving up the first division ladder.
“It’s always nice when you’re picking the teams off above you, because it was really hurtful to see us on the bottom of the table. We spoke to the players about that. ‘Can we do our best to get ourselves off it?’” Henderson stated.
“Now we’re gone up [to sixth]. That’s a huge boost to the lads, it really is. It’s a huge boost to the lads, and UCD are the team above us. That shows them, when we get all our players back, we’ll have a go off any team in this league.”
Henderson’s hand was certainly limited for this trip to Dublin, as injury and suspension meant that Cobh were without a total of eight players.
As a result they focused on keeping their shape, but following the introduction of Jonathan Creamer, Henderson felt that they were more of an attacking threat.
“We had a lot of young fellas in there. We worked on our shape all through training. You could see for the first half, we were getting familiar with it. We stayed in our defensive shape. We didn’t really come out of it, so we didn’t really cause much problems.
“Luckily enough, when he [Creamer] came on he got himself the peno. He caused them all sorts of problems. It kind of gave us the confidence to get further up the pitch, and it actually turned into a good game in the second half.”
With a home game against Athlone Town taking place this Saturday evening, Cobh will be hoping to increase their unbeaten league run to five games.
For Henderson, it is all about taking each game as it comes, but he is adamant that Cobh can be a match for any team in the division.
“It’s literally a game at a time. We’re on a great run, a great win against Shels [last week].
“Again, we had to re-adjust, come up and see what would happen and the boys they were sensational in fairness to them.
“When we got Creamer on we had a go, and we kind of showed that we’re not a bad side, and how good we would be if we got more experienced players in there as well.”