Alan Reynolds has called on players and fans alike to draw a line under last week’s FAI Cup heartache and regroup and reassert themselves for the business end of the league campaign.
Bohs go into the fourth and final series of league games in second place but in a congested chasing pack, just five points separate them from fifth place.
Reynolds said: “After the first series of games, not many people would have predicted we would be in second place heading into the final series of games.
“We now need to regroup and dig deep to stay there.
“After a difficult start to the season, we gave ourselves that platform through hard work in the second series of games and by making our fans believe through the hard graft and the attitude our players showed on the pitch.
“We’ve had bumps on the road over the past month, we all know that, but we’ve got points in difficult venues like the Brandywell and Tolka Park to keep us ahead of the pack.
“It’s an incredibly tight league this season and we can’t lose sight of where we’ve come from to where we are today.
“The defeat to Drogheda in Dalymount was hard to take and there is nobody – staff or players – shirking responsibility for going out of the cup.
“The reality is that our supporters kept pushing us on until the final whistle and we didn’t give them enough in return.
“We needed to raise our game last week. We were at home and we needed to assert ourselves. We fell short of what we are capable of and we were punished. It wasn’t good enough.
“It’s hard not to dwell on a defeat like that. It’s hard for me as manager and I know it’s as hard for the players and for the fans as well. We all know it was a missed opportunity. There were some boos at the end of the game and we have to take that on the chin.
“But we simply have to draw a line under results that have gone before and move on now. There is so much at stake between now and the end of the season.
“We can’t afford to look back, we all have to look forward.
“That goes for our players but it goes for our fans as well. Players got a great lift after the late winners and scenes we all enjoyed earlier in the season but the flip side of that is their confidence will take a knock after a defeat like we had last week.
“Everyone at the club – every one of us – wants the same thing and we all need to give everything of ourselves to get there.
“For all the years I’ve been involved in the league, Bohs have been at their best when playing on the front foot and Dalymount rocking behind them.
“So my message to the players is the same as my message to our supporters as well: We’re all in this together. We need the players to dust themselves down, embrace the challenge and show what they are made of now, and we need our fans to dig deep again and to keep backing them.”
Bohs face a Cork City team who are now unbeaten in three games and Reynolds added: “Cork City have given us a game every time we played them.
“They’ve beaten us in Turner’s Cross, we needed a late winner in Dalymount to win here earlier in the season and even though we won down there the last day, we didn’t have it all our own way and we really had to work for it.
“People had written Cork City off but they’ve found a resolve in their last few games. They’ve beaten Galway, they’ve gone to the Brandywell and came back with a clean sheet and a point, and they’ve progressed in the cup against Waterford.
“They will have set themselves a target of extending that run, so every one of us needs to stand up and be counted.”
Team news
Bohemians are without Niall Morahan (hamstring) and John Mountney (groin), while Rob Cornwall (knee) and Leigh Kavanagh (ankle) are doubts.
Alex Lacey (hamstring) is back full training as is James Clarke after illness sidelined him all last week.