Failure to defend set-pieces cost poor Galway Utd side once again

Date Published: {J}

Bray Wanderers 2

Galway United 1

Keith Kelly

Galway United manager Sean Connor slammed his side’s “disgraceful” defending which handed Bray Wanderers a two-goal lead inside ten minutes in the Carlisle Grounds on Friday night, and with it the three points that sees the Seagulls climb to second in the table.

As for United, they were staring at slipping to bottom of the table until Dundalk rallied from a goal down to win the Louth derby against Drogheda United, but that was of little consolation for a United side guilty of one of the worst 45 minutes of football from any team to pull on the maroon jersey in some time.

The United manager put the two Bray goals – both from corners on the left – down to a failure to defend set pieces and the abdication of individual responsibility by his players, but it is difficult to see how you can work on the training ground on dealing with such matters when you don’t even train as a unit.

“It was disgraceful defending, and we’ve kept the players in [the dressing room] after the game and spoken about it. It is individual responsibility, you should be able to pick up players and right now people are not doing that. I don’t know what to do about it apart from picking a different team,” Connor said after the game.

Granted, United did improve in the second half, and enjoyed long periods of possession, but without ever looking like they were going to get back into the game against a Bray side that always looked like they had another couple of gears to slip into had their grip on the match been in serious threat.

Once again Connor trotted out the line of the budget he has to work with, and while, as he said, “the facts are the facts”, it is no excuse for the paucity of performance from his side in the first half. If that performance is as good as his side can muster – and the evidence this season thus far would not suggest otherwise – then perhaps he would be better cobbling together a side exclusively made up of local players, or at least players who are available to train in

Galway with the rest of the squad.

Again, the budget line is the excuse for the likes of Bobby Ryan and Brian Cash training in Dublin and linking up with the squad for games, but that is looking more and more like a flawed set-up as, while that pair – and Shaun Maher and Steve Feeney – bring bags of experience to the side, the lack of unity in the squad is a major worry.

There certainly did not appear to be any leaders on the pitch on Friday night. We’re not talking about players having a cut at each other over mistakes, but the lack of communication between the United players must be addressed as the silence from the men in maroon was deafening on Friday night, whereas Gary Dempsey was a non-stop talker for the home side, offering advice, encouragement and the odd reprimand throughout the game.

For more, read this weeks’ Connacht Sentinel.