GOALKEEPER RICHARD BRUSH says that Finn Harps have to ‘man up’ and quit feeling sorry for themselves.
Harps were pulled right into the relegation mire on Friday night when they lost 1-0 to bottom side Longford Town at Finn Park and are now in a real battle to save their top-flight status.
Harps haven’t won or scored in their last seven games, a run that stretches back to the beginning of July.
A deathly silence swept around the Finn Park clubhouse on Friday night as Longford won for the first time in six months and volunteers for media duties were few, but Brush came forward and offered up his thoughts.
“It’s disappointing, more so after that kind of game,” said the Englishman.
[adrotate group=”50″]“You can play Dundalk and the bigger teams and you might sneak anything and it’s a bonus, but we came into this game hoping to change our luck and to pull us away from the bottom two.
“We did enough and created enough chances to get something. We turned a corner in a sense that we’re creating chances again; Ryan (Coulter) pulled off a few saves and we hit the bar.”
Harps had a golden chance of an equaliser, but Ruairi Keating – who earlier hit the crossbar – saw a tame penalty saved by Coulter with nine minutes remaining.
Confidence is in short supply at the moment, but that’s an easy excuse as far as Brush is concerned.
He said: “You can put it down to a lack of confidence, but we need to man up. We really do.
“We have to stop the slide. As much as you want to keep a clean sheet, even a one-all would be great, just to get that goal. We’d take a goal now whatever way it would come.
“We had a few good chances against Longford. I think it is coming.”
Kevin O’Connor scored the only goal of the game on Friday night. After Packie Mailey’s clearance fell invitingly, O’Connor wonderfully lobbed over Brush.
“He did that against me last year when I was with Sligo,” the Harps goalkeeper reflected.
“It’s not nice to watch the ball fly over you head into the net like that. Kevin has that in his locker, though.”
Brush was restored to the starting XI on Friday despite Ciaran Gallagher’s Man of the Match display four evenings previously against Dundalk.
[adrotate group=”53″]Brush said: “Ciaran was excellent in Dundalk. He was Man of the Match in the last two games. We know he can come in here and do the job.
“We have had a lot of games coming thick and fast and that has taken a toll. Ciaran is in flying form and he can come in any time.”
In-form Cork City are the visitors to Ballybofey tonight for what appears a daunting fixture for Ollie Horgan’s Harps.
[adrotate group=”81″]Brush said: “We go again on Monday and I think that’s a positive. You don’t want to be moping around all week. We’re not sitting around with six or seven days – we need to put this behind us.
“We need as many people here as possible. It’s tough to call on supporters when the run isn’t good, but we really do need them.”
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