Alan Reynolds has reiterated his message to his Bohemians side that they have to keep pushing themselves even harder to maintain their upturn in form.
Five wins in their last six games saw Bohs move up to fourth position with Saturday’s 1-0 triumph away to Sligo Rovers where Lys Mousset was the latest player to leave it late to seal victory for Reynolds’ men, with three minutes of normal time remaining.
The manner of all five of those victories – 85th, 96th, 97th, 97th and 87th minute winners against Cork City, Shamrock Rovers, St Patrick’s Athletic, Galway United and Sligo Rovers respectively – give all the appearances of smash-and-grabs.
Reynolds, however, believes his team deserve credit for the quality of their overall performances, but has warned them there can be no let-up if they want it to continue.
He said: “The nature of the wins we’ve had over the last month or so, a lot of the talk afterwards has naturally been about the late goals.
“It’s the obvious talking point as it is such an unusual run, but it has probably meant that the players haven’t actually got the credit they deserve for the overall performances they’ve put in.
“Those wins have come with late goals but if you look back on a lot of those games, it was no more than we deserved either, so I’ve been pleased that the players have been getting the rewards they deserve for the work that they are putting in.
“But they’re not looking for pats on the back, their only focus is to keep it going.
“We know how hard we have had to work for all those wins and to pull ourselves back up the table, so we want to stay there and push on further.
“That persistence is key. We have to keep pushing ourselves to give it everything in every game.
“We have shown in recent weeks what we are capable of so there is a great belief within the group but it’s about maintaining that and building on it now.”
Reynolds was particularly delighted for Mousset, who netted his first competitive goal in 857 days – his last coming during a loan spell with Nimes in French Ligue 2 in January 2023.
After 18 months out of the game, Reynolds warned in February that signing the former Bournemouth and Sheffield United man was a gamble, but hopes the joy of ‘the Moose’ scoring his first goal in a Bohemians shirt can drive the 29-year-old to push on once more.
He said: “You can see by the celebrations on Saturday how much it meant to him and how delighted the players, staff and fans were for him.
“It was a great goal too. It was a good ball in over the top from Bucko to ask questions of the Sligo defence but Lys still had an awful lot of work to nip in ahead of the two defender, and it was a powerful finish too.
“He’s someone who has played at the very top but it’s been a long road for him to get back scoring again. He has a lot of work to do but you can see the fans have taken to him and how much he enjoyed that moment on Saturday.
“He’s a good lad and it should be a big boost for his confidence, which hopefully can drive him on now. It’s been tough for him to get up to speed. He came in having not played in a long time, then had a couple of niggles and an Achilles injury, which held him back.
“But we see the quality he has. It’s probably been a little frustrating that we haven’t seen more of him on the pitch, so hopefully there is more to come. He knows he needs to get fitter, so it’s about trying to manage how and when we can bring him into games for now.”
After the recent run of form, confidence in the Bohemians dressing room is the best it has been in a long time but Reynolds warned they face one of their biggest tests of the season so far when champions Shelbourne come to Dalymount Park.
He added: “Shels have already beaten us already this season, there wasn’t a whole lot between the sides but ultimately they got the result so we know how hard we are going to have to work to get a result against them.
“They are an experienced and organised group who are champions for a reason so it will be a test for us to see if we can keep improving to get a result against them.
“It’s a Dublin derby, it’s going to be another cracking atmosphere at Dalymount. There is a real determination between both the fans and players over the past number of weeks and we want that to continue.
“We won’t have it our own way in every game but we’re all pulling in the same direction and we’ll give everything of ourselves to keep that going.”
Team news
Bohemians are without Leigh Kavanagh (hamstring) and Alex Lacey (hamstring) but Conor Parsons (hamstring) and John Mountney (head) come back into contention.