Sport

Horgan unhappy with decisions in Finn Harps draw with Longford

 Finn Harps manager Ollie Horgan
 Finn Harps manager Ollie Horgan  Finn Harps manager Ollie Horgan

FINN Harps boss Ollie Horgan is getting tired of decisions that he feels have cost his team dearly this season.

In the latest example on Friday, Harps went behind at home to Longford Town following a hugely controversial goal.

Horgan felt that the goalscorer Aaron Dobbs was “horribly offside” - but referee Ben Connolly overruled a raised flag from an assistant referee.

The referee adjudged that Dobbs had been played onside by defender Ethan Boyle, but video footage showed that it was Longford player Aaron Robinson who had headed the ball on after Dylan Grimes’s initial shot had smacked off the crossbar.

Horgan was hopping mad at the decision which came just days after an incident in their previous outing where he was adamant that Harps had been denied a stonewall penalty.

While Harps recovered and drew 1-1 with Longford, Horgan had other reasons to be frustrated.

His side has now collected just two points from their last five games, have dropped to eight in the table, and are just not clicking.

“We need to get better and there is no point in pretending that we are happy with that. We are not,” he said.

“Longford are a decent side and if you underestimate them you will end up with nothing. We are struggling a little bit and you can blame decisions, but we also have to look at ourselves.”

On a brighter note, exciting Belgian striker Tunde Owolabi got the Harps goal, and once again impressed.

The game could have gone either way, but Harps did spurn a glorious opportunity to bag the points when captain Barry McNamee could only look on with annoyance as his second half penalty was saved by Longford netminder Lee Steacy.

This game marked the end of the first half of the season, and Harps are 11 clear of bottom side Longford.

But Horgan has reiterated that there is a long, long way to go. With Derry losing in Dundalk, Harps gained a point on their arch rivals who are two points ahead of them in seventh.