AFTER seeing his team suffer defeat on their return to the Premier Division after a two-year absence, Cork City manager Colin Healy admitted that his players seemed nervous in the opening half against Bohemians. 

In front of a sold-out Turners Cross, City failed to cope with the visions for the majority of the game. They switched formation in the second half to a back four and Healy felt that helped his side. 

Despite Bohs' dominance, City almost snatched a point late, with Gypies keeper James Talbot appearing to do enough to keep the ball from crossing the line.

"I don’t know if it crossed the line. It looked very close. Darragh (Crowley) has got a very good header. He’s headed it down. I thought he could have headed it higher but I must not have crossed the line.

“Probably in the first half with the system we had, they had a lot of possession. But we were giving away silly possession as well. But we changed it. We changed it at halftime. 

We went to a back four and I thought we were more aggressive. I thought we had a lot more chances as well. 

"I mean you look at Bohs. They had two chances and they scored. I don’t think they opened us up.

“I thought we looked a small bit nervous in the first half but you have to give credit to Bohs as well, they kept good possession. But with the system that we had (3-5-2) sometimes that allows you to do it. (Patrick) Kirk and (Keith) Buckley we’re getting on the ball very easily. They were running the game. But we changed it at halftime. 

"We corrected it. We had a few chances in the second half but we didn’t take them. Overall, I think we need to be better on the ball. We were a bit sloppy and we need to be better than that."

SETTLE

Healy gave four league debuts to players with Tobin Oluwayemi, Kevin Custovic, Tunde Owolabi, Alvin Wimbo all featuring in the starting lineup. Despite the new arrivals only being in the club at a short time the City manager is hoping they can find their feet quickly. 

The City manager made numerous changes and felt his substitutes made a positive impact on the game.

“I can’t wait awhile to be honest for them to blend in. The players are in and they need to perform. At the end of the day it’s a game of football. It’s a big crowd and they need to get used to their surroundings and I understand that but when they are here they need to perform straight away. 

"We have a good squad. Even the likes of Matt Healy coming on, who I thought did very very well. He had a bit of a thigh strain so we had to be very careful with him. He didn’t train all week so we had to be careful with him, so he came on. We had Darragh Crowley come on and so did Daniel Kerezic. 

It was much better in the second-half it’s just a shame we couldn’t get that second goal."

Bohs second goal was a gift from City. Oluwayemi who is on loan from Celtic will want to forget his contribution in the decisive goal of the game after he misjudged the flight of the ball. Despite his error, City manager believes that his keeper just needs to put the mistake behind him.

"The goal did come from errors and that happens. Starting from the throw-in which was a bit lose. With the goal itself, I don’t know if has taken a deflection or anything. Maybe Tobi could have done better. But these things happen and you just have to learn from them and move on.

With fixtures not getting any easier for City with a trip to face Derry City next Healy is aware that the gulf between the Premier and First Division is huge.

“Absolutely it is a massive step up to the Premier Division, and Bohs are a good side. They have good players. There’re fit and they are strong and we expect all the teams to be the same.”