Jon Daly says that his players need to get their ‘heads on’ quickly and recover from Friday night’s disappointing 2-0 defeat at home to Galway United.
A brace from Stephen Walsh, coupled with Drogheda United’s 2-2 draw with Bohemians, saw Dundalk’s advantage over their Louth neighbours cut to just two points in the battle to avoid relegation but Daly said they could not linger on the result ahead of a tough-looking assignment at the Brandywell next week.
“Any defeat at home is disappointing to take,” said the Lilywhites manager. “The goals we conceded were poor so it’s very disappointing and frustrating. We can’t change it now so it’s about dealing with it and feeling that emotion and feeling the defeat and making sure we prepare and recover for a very tough game in Derry next week.
“We have 30 points to play for and as a group, and as a club, we need to have a bit more of a positive outlook on things. I think there is too much negativity about the place and it’s really important that we have a positive outlook.
“We’re obviously extremely disappointed with the result but I feel that we can, and will, beat teams in the league if we turn up and play to the levels that we showed in the second part of the first half. If we play like that then, more often than not, we will get results against teams.”
Daly on Dundalk’s first-half display…
“The first 10 or 15 minutes we had to defend balls into the box, long balls, throws, corners, crosses and the boys stood up to that really well.
“A lot of that was probably brought on by ourselves but once we got over that initial period we were okay and we created some good opportunities to score, which we didn’t. That was frustrating.
“When you’re on top in a game you need to take your chances and put them away and we needed a little bit of calmness to go and execute them.”
Daly on the second half…
“The second half was disappointing. For the first goal, we were in control of the ball and we gave it away really cheaply and a couple of seconds later the ball was in our net. That’s what happens when you’re playing against an unforgiving team. They don’t let up and when you make a mistake they will punish you.”
Daly on Felix Goddard…
“For the first goal, I think a lot of people could have done better, not just Felix. We had the ball, we gave it away, we didn’t deal with the cross and it was a free header from four or five yards, which is difficult for any goalkeeper to keep out. Could he have had a better performance? A lot of people could have had a better performance.”
Daly on any positives…
“It was important to get Andy Boyle back on the pitch again and there were spells in the first half that we were happy with but ultimately we gave away two cheap goals and it was a very disappointing night.”
