Alan Reynolds has said Bohemians need to capitalise on their games on hand while other clubs are playing in Europe.
Bohs host John Caulfield’s Galway United at Dalymount Park on Friday night with Reynolds saying that none of his players are in any doubt as to how important a game it is.
They come into the game on the back of their first and second draws of the season – away to St Pat’s last week and at home to Sligo Rovers a fortnight ago.
Reynolds said: “We were disappointed not to get the win against St Pat’s, we were really piling on the pressure for the last ten minutes or so but we were very lucky too in the first half with the offside decision that went against them, so you could argue that a draw was a fair result.
“They shaded it in the first half, but we had our chances too and the momentum was very much with us in the second half and as I said after the game last week, if the game had gone on another few minutes I’d have fancied us to nick it as we were pushing and pushing.
“We went 21 games without a draw only to get two in a row then, so we want to get back to winning now, particularly in front of our home crowd.”
Reynolds is once again counting on another vocal home support against a Galway side who have already left Dalymount with all three points this season.
He said: “We all recognise the importance of this game. It’s important we start strongly and set the tempo of the game.
“Galway are a very capable side. They came up here earlier in the season and won, and it took everything from us to beat them when we played them away too.
“It’s one of our games in hand on the teams that are competing in Europe this week so we really want to make it count.
“We’re at home, it’s yet another sold-out home crowd at Dalymount Park so we want to feed off that energy again.”
Reynolds believes that support and the relationship built up between fans and players has been keen to Bohs’ form over the past three months, and it is something that he and his players are grateful for.
He said: “The support we’ve been receiving home and away over the past few months has been special.
“I’m told the tickets for St Pat’s last week were sold out in two or three minutes and I know that in other years there’s often a drop-off in attendances during the summer months, as has been the case at other clubs here this season, but there’s been no sign of that happening in Dalymount.
“Once we turned our form around a few months ago and got the fans to believe in us again, they have been right behind us.
“The home stands have been sold out for every game this season and that’s continued into the summer and we are really grateful for that support and I think our fans can see from our players that in every game we play we want to send those fans home happy.
“So we all have a job to do against Galway, and with the weather we are having this week, hopefully the fans will be out early, and have the place rocking again come kick-off because this is a massive game for all of us.”
Team news
Alex Lacey (hamstring) and Archie Meekison (hamstring) remain out.