While it has been an exciting week for many Bohemians supporters plotting their route to Gibraltar, Alan Reynolds says his players are focused on getting back to basics on the domestic front.
Tuesday’s draw for next month’s first qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League pitted Bohs against Gibraltar side St Joseph’s, with Connah’s Quay Nomads (Wales) or Ballkani (Kosovo) awaiting the winners of the tie.
But Reynolds says his immediate focus is bouncing back after a bruising second-half performance away to Derry City last week saw them slump to a 4-1 defeat having taken the lead in the first half through a brilliant goal by Harry Vaughan.
Reynolds said: “We’re not immune to the buzz around the club after the European draw. I know from talking to supporters how frustrating it was to miss out on the previous European trips during Covid under Keith Long, so the opportunity to follow Bohs away in Europe has been a long time coming for a lot of them, the first time without restrictions since 2012.
“As a team, we are really looking forward to it as well. It will be the first time many of our players will have played in Europe so our preparations have to be right and we have to do our homework on the opposition.
“But before that, we need to get back to basics too. European football on the horizon next month is a reminder of how hard we worked to get there in the first place and how hard we will have to work to get back there again next season.
“The reality is if we repeat last week’s second half performance against Derry City again, we won’t be.
“We went into the game on the back of four wins from five – the one defeat in that run came against Shamrock Rovers just shy of four weeks ago in a game we did more than enough to win but left empty-handed, a game where we did an awful lot right, and I will defend our overall performance, but we were punished by a very clinical team.
“We responded with a brilliant win away in Sligo but as I said last Friday, we let ourselves down in Derry. We didn’t capitalise on enough of the opportunities that we had in the first half, although we clearly should have been awarded a penalty as well.
“We didn’t show up in the second half and we got what we deserved from our second half performance. It was a long trip home for supporters and the players after a result like that and know we have work to do. We have to address our performance because it wasn’t good enough.
“Games are coming thick and fast against good teams over the next number of weeks so we need to dust ourselves down, dig deep and work harder for each other to achieve the levels of consistent performances that are needed to get to where we want to be.
“It’s nearly four weeks since our last home game so we have been working hard all week because we want to put in a performance in front of our home fans and rectify the performance we gave in front of the fans that made the trip to Derry.
“But we know that won’t be easy against a Dundalk team who really made life difficult for us the last time they came to Dalymount, so we need to roll up our sleeves and show what we are made of.”
Reynolds also addressed the absence of goalkeeper Kacper Chorazka last week, who missed his first game of the season with Paul Walters handed his first-team debut.
Reynolds added: “We had a situation where Kacper and his partner booked their wedding date and venue back home in Poland a long, long time ago, before he signed a new contract with us.
“As manager, you want all your players available, especially someone we value as highly as Kacper. This situation was far from ideal for us but it was unavoidable – we knew about it and we discussed it when Kacper re-signed.
“It was a hugely important day in his life, his partner’s life, and for their families, and it wasn’t possible to have it changed.
“We kept that in-house for good reason. The intention was to address the issue in my post-match interview after Friday’s game but the question wasn’t asked, and I was so focused on our second half performance that I forgot to bring it up myself, so I’m addressing it early today ahead of tomorrow’s game.
“I know that’s frustrating for fans. The first thing that supporters look at in match previews is the team news. But my job is to manage the team, and that includes managing distractions ahead of games, particularly when we’ve someone making their debut. It’s also not in any team’s interest to show the opposition their full hand days in advance. The opposition can find out our starting line-up at 6.30 on Friday like everyone else.
“In Paul Walters, we have a really talented goalkeeper who has pushed Kacper all year in training and he is a player who’s come in this season who we rate really highly, and has been unlucky not to feature before now.
“But I don’t believe that it was not in his interest or the team’s interest for Kacper’s absence to become a talking point in the run-up to the game.
“As it happens, Paul came in and did very well. He saved a good penalty and the scoreline was not a reflection of his performance, but poor defending in front of him, something we have been working hard on all week to rectify.”
Team news
Kacper Chorazka is available once more, while Markuss Strods (quad) and Douglas James-Taylor (knee) are doubts.
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