Shelbourne's blip and a 'scary stat' on the goal front
The unpredictable nature of this SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division season means it is nigh on possible to make an ultimate judgement call on any of the teams in the topflight.
The double round of action over the weekend was a microcosm with the likes of Derry City bouncing back from a poor defeat at Waterford the previous Friday by seeing off Shelbourne and St Patrick's Athletic in back to back games.
For Shels, it was a Friday and Monday to forget though. After the 2-0 loss at Derry, Damien Duff's side slumped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Waterford on Monday evening, stretching their winless run to five.
The result leaves the defending champions down in seventh, but such is the crabs-in-a-bucket nature of the table that they are only five points behind leaders Drogheda United.
However, Shelbourne will need to iron out a few issues - some of which are partially injury-influenced - at both ends of the pitch, according to Richie Towell and Conan Byrne.
Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, former Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers league winner Towell highlighted a degree of profligacy in front of goal as a factor in their blip.
"I actually think the biggest concern for Shelbourne at the moment is that they're the (joint) second lowest scorers in the league," he said.
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"Only Waterford are behind them which is a scary stat. You think of any previous champions years gone by, they're probably always the top scorers in the league.
"Now, I know Shels wouldn't have been the top scorers last year in the league and they were really relying on that solid defence.
"This year they don't have that. They're leaking in goals, left, right and centre, especially from set plays and when you're leaking in goals and you're the second lowest scorers in the league that's going to be a big concern."
The absences through injury of striker Sean Boyd and lynchpin centre back Paddy Barrett will certainly have contributed to the issues at both ends of the pitch in recent weeks and their returns will likely go a long way to alleviating those concerns.
But while former St Patrick's Athletic and Shelbourne winger Byrne sees his former side's recent run as just a blip, he did feel that from the evidence of the Waterford game, creating chances was not the issue, but rather converting them.
"They had about 30 shots in the game yesterday, only three of them were on target and I think that's the problem with Shels, they're just not scoring enough goals," he said.
"Mipo (Odubeko) had an unbelievable opportunity at 1-0, fluffed his lines from about eight yards. You would have put your house on him to score.
"But sometimes in those situations when the pressure is on and you need to take your chances to score, it can get to you a little bit.
"In terms of a blip, yeah it's a blip, winless in five. But it's important that they bounce back, and it will be important that they do that very soon."
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The 42
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