19.45 20 Apr 2015 -
Referee:
League Preview: Cork City -v- Longford Town
- Josh Dolan
- Sun, Apr 19 2015
CORK CITY
Cork City will be looking to build on Friday night’s 2-1 win over Drogheda United as they take on Tony Cousins’ Longford Town on Monday night. City will be aiming to record their fourth straight home league win.
While Rebels boss John Caulfield has praised the fans for their support, he insists that they must continue their support if City are to continue to pick up points.
“Our supporters have been fantastic again this year, but we need them to come in and get behind us for every match. We need them out in force on Monday night and I am appealing to them to get into the ground early and make that great atmosphere once again, because there are another important three points on offer,” Caulfield told corkcityfc.ie.
“There is always the chance that people might look ahead, but you just cannot do that; there are three vital points at stake tomorrow night and I am asking then fans to come out in big numbers, get behind us again and see can we keep our home run going. We have already won three games at home, we’ve been scoring goals and we haven’t conceded, so we want to see can we do that again tomorrow night,” he furthered.
Caulfield is a expecting a tough test from Longford, given the amount of experience in their ranks.
“They are a good solid team with a lot of experience; guys like Flynn, Sullivan and Rice who have been around the league a long time and been very successful,” said Caulfield.
“They have a great strike force in Shaw and O’Sullivan, two guys who have done really well this season.
“We have to be on our game and defend properly, but crucially we have to see if we can play at the kind of high tempo that we played at on Friday night against Drogheda; we need to play at that tempo to get at them and cause them problems,” the City boss concluded.
Karl Sheppard will miss the visit of Longford through injury, while John O’Flynn and Captain John Dunleavy are rated 50/50 for the game.
LONGFORD TOWN
Longford will be searching for their first win in four, as they travel south on Monday night.
Tony Cousins’ side haven’t won since a late Don Cowan goal gave them a 3-2win away at Longford last month. However, it hasn’t been all bad since then. The Town have picked up credible draws against Sligo Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic in that same period.
Manager Tony Cousins will be looking towards his abundance of experience in defense and midfield to try and get a result at Turner’s Cross on Monday night.
Team news hasn’t been made available from the Midlands side. However, we do know that the Town have no suspensions.
Referee: Jim McKell
MATCH STATS
The last competitive meeting between the sides came in October of 2011 when City beat Longford by three goals to one.
Cork have won four of the last five competitive meetings between the sides.
Longford’s last win over the Rebels came back in May 2006.
BETTING
Cork City 2/5; Draw 10/3; Longford Town 7/1.
PREDICTION
Cork City 1-0 Longford Town
Cork City
Injured: Karl Sheppard.
Doubtful: John O’Flynn.
Suspended: None.
Longford Town
Injured: Unavailable.
Doubtful: Unavailable.
Suspended: None.
About Josh Dolan
Josh Dolan is one of our Dublin based reporters, who also helps out with Extratime.ie’s administration tasks.
Josh, who was recommended to us by fellow reporters, joined the site as a teenager …