Drogs forced to settle for scoreless draw - again

Drogheda United drew a blank for the fourth league match in a row as they had to settle for a 0-0 draw at home to bottom side Shelbourne.

With the second leg of their Europa League tie in Malmo next week in mind, Drogheda boss Mick Cooke made seven changes from the first leg of their first qualifying round clash with the Swedish side last Thursday in what turned out to be a decent, competitive game, if a trifle short on real scoring chances.

It might have been different as early as 43 seconds if Shels' Sean Brennan had shot himself, instead of passing to new singing Lee Murtagh who was offside when he fired home. Drogheda midfielder Brian Gannon also had a goal ruled out for an offside on 34 minutes.

Shels had the ball in the Drogheda net again on 67 minutes, but it was deemed to have gone out of play before Brennan crossed for Mark Leech to finish.

Perhaps Drogheda's best chance of the game then came a minute into stoppage time at the end when defender Michael Daly planted a diving header just wide.

The result sees Shels narrow the gap on second bottom Bohemians to four points.