Sligo Rovers 3
Longford Town 0
SLIGO ROVERS PICKED up their first win of the season with victory over Longford Town as they scored as many goals as they had in their eight previous league games combined.
The Bit O’Red had shown signs of improvement in recent league games, and this is a game they were certainly looking to take something from.
Warming up on a different side of the field, and playing a new entrance theme seemed to have the desired effect as Rovers got off to a flier against Tony Cousins’ men.
Jordan Richards gave the hosts the lead after just eight minutes when he was picked out in the Longford area by Craig Roddan.
The Notts County loanee took a touch, before slotting past the helpless Skinner in goal.
The visitors were struggling to cope with Sligo’s attacking prowess and fell further behind after the half hour mark.
Raffaele Cretaro’s shot from 25 yards should have been made redundant by the Longford defence, but instead crept past Skinner to double the lead.
It wasn’t going to get any easier for Cousins’ men, who were on the back-foot for the entire first half.
The Bit O’Red made it 3-0 on the stroke of half-time. Liam Martin’s ball across the box looked destined for the feet of the unmarked Cretaro, but Tristan Noack-Hoffman saved him the trouble, putting it past his own ‘keeper.
The visitors did get forward more after the interval, and Schlingermann’s excellent double save from Mark Hughes after the hour mark kept them at bay.
Sligo Rovers: Micheal Schlingermann, Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Regan Donelon, Michael Leahy (Tim Clancy, 64), Gary Boylan, Jimmy Keohane, Craig Roddan, John Russell, Liam Martin (Jaanai Gordon, 81), Jordan Richards, Raffaele Cretaro (Kieran Sadlier, 64).
Longford Town: Paul Skinner, Pat Flynn, Jamie Mulhall, Noel Haverty, Tristan Noack-Hoffman, Kevin O’Connor, Peter McGlynn (Josh O’Hanlon, 46), Mark Hughes, Don Cowan (Lee Duffy, 76), David O’Sullivan, John McKeown (Philip Gannon, 46).
Referee: David McKeown.
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