Henderson says ‘bad day at the office’ for him and the players
REACTION
Daire Walsh
FOLLOWING their 4-1 loss to Cabinteely FC on Saturday, Cobh Ramblers manager, Stephen Henderson, admitted it was a bad day at the office, for both himself and his players.
After the high of their 5-1 victory against Athlone Town, Cobh fell to their first league reversal of the 2017 campaign. At the end of a second-half flashpoint involving Chris ‘Kaka’ McCarthy, Henderson was given his marching orders from the dugout by referee, Paul Hennessey, and he acknowledged that he needed to take responsibility for his actions on the night.
“First of all, you have to give credit to Cabinteely, who fully deserved their win. That’s as bad as we’ve been, now, in a long time, and I have to take my responsibility for that, because I lost the plot there,” Henderson said.
“I thought Kaka’s leg was broken, so, for me to get sent-off, that’s poor out of me. I apologised to the lads, and I apologise to the club for that. It was stupid out of me. All told, it was a bad day in the office for the team. We didn’t play well, and me, as a manager, it was a bad day for me, as well, because I let the lads down.”
One Cobh player to emerge with his head held high was goalkeeper Paul Hunt, whose ‘world class’ saves drew considerable praise from Henderson, and who didn’t deserve to conceded three.
“Paul Hunt pulled off two or three world class saves, and I mean world class. I don’t care what level this is at, especially the one in the first-half, it was quite incredible. I said it to Hunty, he didn’t deserve to be on the back of a hiding like that.”
Nine of the Cobh team that started this game were playing for the fifth game in succession, however, and as a way of stressing the need to manage the amount of game they have to play, Henderson said there may be changes in personnel for the visit of UCD to St Colman’s Park. this coming Saturday.
“We have a good squad of players here. We have to manage the amount of games that they play, when do they start to look a bit tired. Take them out, and put fresh lads in, give them a run. That’s what you do with young teams.
“There’s probably one or two of them need a bit of rest there, now. Because they’re so young, we might have to make one or two changes next week,” Henderson added.