John Cotter insists he has no regrets about offloading top striker Graham Cummins to Shamrock Rovers.
Cork City’s interim boss saw the Rebels fail to score in Europe for the seventh game running as their Europa League dreams all but ended at the first hurdle.
City went down 2-0 to Progres Niederkorn at Turner’s Cross on Thursday, with the Luxembourg side now in pole position to face Rangers in the next round.
Cummins was the Rebels leading scorer with five goals in the league before switching to the Hoops on loan a fortnight ago, with Mark O’Sullivan returning to the Leesiders.
And Cummins came off the bench to help fire Rovers to a precious 2-2 draw away to Norwegian side Brann on Thursday.
Goals have been a problem all season for City who have 19 in the league with only bottom side UCD having scored fewer.
But in the wake of Thursday’s disastrous result, Cotter defended his decision to allow Cummins leave.
“It wasn’t the club’s decision for Graham to go, it was mine and I take full responsibility and I still back my decision to this day,” said Cotter.
“Was it bad timing? I don’t think so. Graham was brilliant around the place but sometimes things get stale in certain places.
“And I thought that was an area that (had). It was good for Graham to get a fresh start and we brought Markey back in.”
Cotter knows the Rebels have a mountain to climb in Luxembourg next week but insists his players won’t give in.
“We need to be bigger and better and show a bit of character,” he said. “We have to believe. If we score the first goal the tie is open again.
“It’d be pointless going over there with the tail between our legs and nobody will be doing that.”
Niederkorn boss Roland Vrabec said: “We should have scored at least three goals and made sure the tie was over.”
Cork City last night announced that John Kavanagh and Darragh Rainsford have both left the club with Cotter looking to bring in fresh faces.
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