Three crackers thrill the faithful few

Date Published: 19-May-2009

THE question was met with a sigh. His shoulders hunched ever so slightly, a slight frown creased a forehead that titled towards the floor, and there was a little shuffle of the feet as Ian Foster thought up an answer to the question as to how disappointed he and the players were with the latest no-show by the Galway sporting public in Terryland Park.

His side had just thumped Bray Wanderers 3-0, all three goals coming from outside the box and being worthy on their own right to win any game, particularly United’s opener from captain and talisman Jay O’Shea.

During the week, club CEO Nick Leeson made an appeal to the public to get behind a team that is enjoying the club’s best start to a season in two decades, but his appeal fell on deaf ears – or at least heedless ones – as a meagre crowd of just 867 turned up on Friday night.

“I don’t think the lads can do any more, to be perfectly honest. I think the home form has been decent, maybe we could have picked up two more points against Sligo, I don’t know.

“I know it’s expensive, I know people are struggling, I know Nick has come out this week with a rallying cry to get people through the turnstiles, but by the looks of things tonight it hasn’t really worked. It’s unfortunate, but I understand. I’m not going to shout my mouth off about fans not turning up, we can only do that on the pitch and hopefully one or two people watch us,” Foster said after the game.

What must be frustrating from a United point of view is that last season, when United were playing some awful football, particularly early in the season, crowds were two and even three times Friday night’s attendance, and if gates continue to be as low as they are, there has to be a real worry about the future of the club.

Those who did turn up on Friday night were treated to…