Armagh City manager departs after heavy defeat

A heavy defeat to Newington on Saturday saw the departure of Armagh City FC manager Dave Rogers.

The side lost on a 6-0 scoreline in front of a home crowd and by Sunday evening the club confirmed Rogers’ departure.

They said: “Armagh City FC can confirm that it has today mutually agreed to part ways with First Team Manager Dave Rogers.

“We would like to place on record our sincere gratitude and appreciation for Dave’s work ethic and dedication during his time here at the club and we wish Dave and his family good health and happiness for the future. “

It was certainly a crash back to earth for the side after last week’s win at Ballinamallard, conceding half a dozen goals to Newington who sit third in the table with a game in hand over Annagh.

Both sides commenced the game brightly but City went behind in the 14th minute when a corner was fired over to the far post and Aiden Kelly completely unmarked headed home.

The rest of the opening period was fairly evenly contested until seven minutes before the half time break when Newington hit City with a three goal burst featuring goals from Aaron Heaney (38min) Michael Morgan (40min) and a Paul Donnelly penalty (42min) to leave the home side’s aspirations in tatters.

HT 0-4.

Any thoughts of a comeback on restarting were demolished after Heaney grabbed his second and 'Ton’s 5th (47min) to put the game to bed.

Both teams then went toe to toe for the rest of the half but right on the whistle the visitors scored a sixth which looked suspiciously offside courtesy of Darren Stuart.

After the draw against Ards and a win at Ballinamallard in previous matches hopes for a positive result by City were dispelled in a crazy nine minute spell at the end of the 1st half and beginning of the 2nd when four goals were conceded after showing promise since going behind.

This game concluded the opening round of fixtures and this Friday Armagh commence the 2nd phase with a trip to Brandywell to play Institute kick off at 7.45 pm in what on paper looks a tough encounter.

Coach Tiernan Mulvenna will now have the a big task of lifting the team for this fixture and others to follow on but the positive side is that both Dundela and Strabane Athletic also lost, so the points difference remains the same at the wrong end of the table.