Egos have not landed for united City, says manager Caulfield

Cork City manager John Caulfield believes the side’s strong spirit is key to remaining the only unbeaten team in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.

An injury-time penalty from Billy Dennehy earned City a draw against Sligo Rovers last week after they had gone behind in the 88th minute. A lack of ego within the squad has helped to foster a strong sense of unity, according to Caulfield.

“It’s like everything else, you work hard in pre-season at trying to get a bond and a work ethic in,” he said.

“In my opinion, we don’t have big-headed individuals or guys who think they’re better than everyone else. We have guys who want to do well.

“When a team works together, then the opportunity is big and I keep saying that the opportunity for us is big. If we work hard, we’ll cause problems for most teams. So far, we’ve played all the top sides except Dundalk and acquitted ourselves well.

“If we can just keep focused and stay grounded, which I believe we will, then we can hang in there.”

City finished last week’s game playing 4-4-2 for the first time in the league this season as Rob Lehane came on to join Mark O’Sullivan up front. While Michael Rafter remains out for at least two months, Caulfield is hopeful Anthony Elding and Danny Morrissey will return soon and provide him with options.

“If you look at pre-season, we had been playing two strikers all the time,” he said. “The problem was that, a week before the St Pat’s game, Rafter got injured and ruled himself out and then we were in a situation where we felt that if we played two in midfield they’d have the extra man and might cause us problems.

“That system has served us well but I’m very open and, the more choices we have available, the more variation I will use.

“I don’t like to chop and change teams much but at the same time I know that there’s a difference between, say, playing St Pat’s away and playing Athlone at home.

“I’ve always played with two strikers, but Rob Lehane has only just come in, he’s still a young lad and at the moment his impact coming on is good. I’m hoping that the strikers can come back soon to give us more options.”