25th February
Dundalk will feel like they should have won this game against Rovers which was definitely there for the taking. A driving wind made conditions hard for goalkeepers and it was a night which Steve Williams will want to forget.
Dundalk made two changes from last Friday with Capper replacing Reddish and Brennan replacing Byrne in the same positions with the midfield unchanged. Dundalk had all the chances in the first half with the wind playing a major part. Colin Fortune who had a good first half hit a speculative volley from 25 yards and O Dowd did well to tip over. It was a lucky connection from Fortune but set the scene for a night of long range efforts from the midfielder. Dundalk had another chance when a corner from Crawley was nearly dropped by O Dowd and two minutes later another Crawley corner fell to the unprepared Jumbo Brennan who shot wide.The corners on that end of the pitch were being drawn inwards towards the goal by the wind and it was from a similar corner that Rovers scored. Dundalk should have been prepared for that eventuality. Dundalk nearly scored again when a peach of a cross from Crawley was headed downwards and wide by Lee Thew. At half time Dundalk must have went in disappointed, knowing that they should have been at least a goal in front.
It was a scrappy game in difficult conditions and both teams made a lot of silly errors. Misjudging passes, flapping wildly at crosses. To be honest while some mistakes were entertaining others were a bit embarassing. Steve Williams' mistakes are as rare as a visit from Mick McCarthy to a National League match. Unfortunately Steve made one tonight. A simple cross from the right was misjudged by Williams who let it slip through his fingers and out for a corner. The resulting corner from Woods was headed in at the near post by Brendan Markey. Steve must take the blame for that one. Dundalk had already lost Ray Campbell through injury and he was replaced by Ciaran Dunne.
Dunne never got into the game but 4 minutes later Dundalk equalised. A slow build up on the right saw the ball fall to Tom McNulty who floated a left foot cross onto the head of Thew who looped it over O Dowd and into the net. Dundalk had changed formations by then with Capper who had a good return from injury moving into the centre with Gollogly and Brady to make a three man central defence with Crawley and McNulty as wing backs and Dunne, Fortune and Thew in the middle. This worked defensively but left Dundalk short up front. There was a strong case for David Martin replacing the tired but hard working Brennan but no more changes or good chances were made despite some good moves down the right wing. The highlight being when Lee Thew shouldered a Shamrock Rovers player and sent him flying over the touchline. But realistically it looked like Dundalk were playing for a draw. No urgency was shown in the final third once Dundalk had scored and it seemed both sides were content with a draw. It finished that way and while Dundalk should have won a draw is a satisfactory result.