Bohs Make It Two Out Of Two Against Drogs

Bohemians 1  -  0 Drogheda

Flood (56)

A 56th minute goal from Anto Flood gave Bohemians victory in their second game of the new Airtricity League season and first home game against Drogheda United this evening.

It was quite a pacey opening 20 minutes for both sides who are very lucky to still be in the premier division after their respective winter cash problems, but the large crowd that showed up tonight showed that they were happy to see their sides playing in the league again.

Bohs who seemed to boss the stats in terms of possession had plenty of chances to take the lead and indeed should have been atleast 1 up in that  20 minute period, two penalty claims waved away by the most controversial ref in the league, Richie Winter and shots from Lee Dixon and Christopher Fagan.

Drogheda were not without their chances too and shots by Philip Hand and Daniel Corcoran and a sublime interception on the half way line by Mark O’Brien troubled Barry Murphy in the goal.

The sting after that period was taken out of the game and Bohs only had a further two chances before the break to score, a 1 on 1 between Fagan and Quirke, which the keeper won and a lovely strike from Lee Dixon, while down the other end Stephen Crossan  had another shot to bother Murphy but it was saved.

That ended an action packed first half and both managers would have been happy enough but Bohs should have gone in to the break with a lead.

Straight away Bohs continued where they left off, piling on the pressure on their Co. Louth opponents with Aidan Price and Anto Flood coming close from two separate corner kicks but the keeper was a little more aware and managed to keep them out.

Richie Winter was beginning to irritate the Bohs fans like a bad itchy rash, a free kick 25 meters out and a yellow card for Alan McNally should have come when Killian Brennan was taken out of it but the ref accused Brennan of diving and waved play on. Also a breakdown in communication between Winter and his assistant on the right led to a bizarre offside decision given against Christy Fagan.

But Bohs kept the pressure on looking for their opening goal of the evening and it came on 56 minutes, a cross from Mark Rossiter on the right hand side found Anto Flood who fired into the back of the net, the huge crowd in Dalymount Park sent buzzing.

Just like any Irish team really Bohs were ready to sit back on that lead but put more pressure on when the chance came, Lee Dixon was proving to be a good addition to the Bohs first team and had a few more chances, Anto Flood had one particular chance on in the last quarter from 25 yards out, only palmed away by Quirke in goal.

After 2 minutes added on by the referee, Dalymount Park erupted as its now 2 wins out of 2 for bohs but possibly should have been alot more.

Bohs: Murphy, Heary, Cahill, O’Brien, Price, Rossiter, Dixon, Fagan, Flood Traynor, Brennan SUBS Sexton, Burke, Joyce, Feely, Somers, Buckley, Forrester

Drogheda United: Quirke, Gannon, Hand, Mc Nally, Whelan, Lester, O’Brien, Mc Crossan, Freeman, Corcoran, McNamara SUBS: Trimble, Flynn, Skelly, Hanaphy, C O’Brien, Nolan, Ekanem

Daniel "Pitchside" Pitcher Twitter: @DanFM104Sport About: Dan "Pitchside" Pitcher provides insight and commentary as the chief soccer and rugby correspondent for Sportspeak.