Alan Reynolds says Bohemians cannot afford to look back today: Winning and hoping to capitalise on results elsewhere can be the only thing on their mind when they take to the pitch against Drogheda United this afternoon.
Bohs threw away a 2-0 lead against Shelbourne last week to lose 3-2 in injury time. That loss means qualifying for Europe is no longer in Bohs’ hands, and they will have to rely on results elsewhere.
But to have any chance of being in the mix, Reynolds says his players need to push the permutations out of their minds and focus on one thing: Beating the one team they have failed to beat all season.
Reynolds said: “We are relying on other results to go our way which is disappointing given where we’ve been in the table for long periods over the past few months.
“The message to our players and our fans is a simple one that we need to give everything of ourselves to make sure we win.
“We have one last shot. We can’t control what happens elsewhere but we have to make sure we do our business on the day and hope the results elsewhere go our way.”
Bohs supporters are still hurting from last week’s defeat, in particular the manner of it. Reynolds’ side had given themselves a commanding two-goal lead midway through the first half with Ross Tierney and Jordan Flores on the scoresheet.
They were pegged back to 2-1 with ten minutes of the first half remaining, but held on to that lead until the 87th minute when disaster struck with Shels equalising before claiming all three points seven minutes into injury-time.
26 October 2025; Bohemians supporters before the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division match between Bohemians and Shelbourne at Dalymount Park in Dublin. Photo by Thomas Flinkow/Sportsfile
Reynolds said: “Last week was a really tough one to take for our supporters and for everyone at the club. There is no hiding from that.
“We were in a commanding position with only a few minutes to go so to go from that to losing the game simply wasn’t good enough from us. There is so much at stake at this stage of the season and we messed up.
“But going up to Drogheda, we have to push that out of our minds for this game and leave everything out on the pitch.
“Drogheda are a team that have frustrated us this season so everyone knows how difficult a game this is going to be.
“I firmly believe this team, when everyone is giving everything of ourselves, has the ability to beat any team in the league so that is our only aim today.
“We have had plenty of bumps on the road and we certainly wish we weren’t going up to Drogheda today relying on others, but we have a group here who really want to succeed for this club.
“We know our supporters are deeply frustrated after last week but we have one last shot, and we really need them behind us today of all days.
“Our supporters have been brilliant over the past few months. You look at the effort all the lads in F&G, the likes of the NBB, go to for us and the club week in week out, that means a lot to our players and our players are desperate to repay that.
“So as players and staff, we have to dust ourselves down and give it one final massive push, and I ask that our fans do the same.”
Team news
Bohs are at full strength.