Cobh boss hails ‘outrageous’ double save by Hunt
REACTION
Daire Walsh
COBH RAMBERS’ manager, Stephen Henderson, sang the praises of Paul Hunt yesterday evening, as a remarkable first-half double save from the reliable netminder helped his side to overcome a challenge from Shelbourne at Tolka Park.
A 1-0 victory propelled Ramblers to the top of the First Division, and after witnessing a brace of incredible stops by Hunt, Henderson sensed it was going to be a memorable night in north Dublin.
“I think that’s probably one of the best double saves I’ve ever seen. The first one alone you’re saying ‘what a save’, but for him to get back up and get it onto the crossbar, that’s outrageous,” Henderson remarked.
“You kind of have a sense then you’re going to win the game when stuff like that starts happening, because it was an unbelievable save.”
Following a difficult opening half, Henderson felt the redeployment of Stephen Christopher to the right-wing allowed them to shut down the Shels attacking threat. He admitted that there was an element of fortune to Karl Caulfield’s 50th-minute winner, but was delighted to claim all three points nonetheless.
“We knew what to expect from them, and we told the lads ‘look it, you’re going to have to just kind of group in here and work together as a group and defend really well. Then we’ll do what we do well, and that’s break’. Unfortunately, in the first-half we didn’t break well.
“The left-winger [Adam Evans] was giving us a few problems. When we put Stevie [Stephen Christopher] out on the right-hand side, I think we kind of cut that threat out in the second-half. The goal was an absolute fluke, but they got a 94th-minute one down in our place.
“That was an absolute fluke, so it kind of levelled itself off. We’re delighted with that.”
Cobh have now moved back to the summit of the table, after previously occupying top spot during the opening weeks of the campaign. That was followed by a set-back against Cabinteely, and Henderson is interested to see how his charges will react on this occasion.
“Psychologically it’s a great boost for us. That’s the second time we’ve managed to perch ourselves up there. I don’t think we reacted well the last time we went top of the league. Last time we went top, we went to Cabinteely and they spanked us 4-1.
“We didn’t play well in any shape or form there. It’ll be interesting to see how we react to this now when we go up to Athlone, because Athlone on their day are a good side,” Henderson added.