Alan Reynolds says Bohemians cannot afford to shoot themselves in the foot if they are to claim Dublin derby bragging rights away to Shamrock Rovers tomorrow night.
Bohs come into the game after their first defeat of the season, having lost 2-1 to Sligo Rovers last Friday after draws in each of their previous four games.
Last week’s results see Bohs in third spot, two points off tomorrow’s hosts, who are now unbeaten in eight games and have also only lost once this season.
Bohs got off to the perfect start against Sligo last week, with Zane Myers scoring his first goal for the club in the eighth minute to give Reynolds’ men the lead after a brilliant through ball from Sadou Diallo from deep inside his own half.
The home side had plenty of opportunities to extend their lead but instead Sligo struck twice, five or so minutes either side of half-time, with Bohs’ efforts of salvaging something from the game seeming to hit a brick wall when they were reduced to ten men when Adam McDonnell received a second yellow card with 20 minutes remaining.
Reynolds said: “We went the first series of games getting plaudits for how we defended well and took games to opposition teams, so we have to take it on the chin when we get a bit of stick for shooting ourselves in the foot like we did last week now too.
“It’s been a frustrating few weeks for us. We’ve drawn games we felt we should have won and against Sligo we weren’t up to the standards we have set ourselves.
“We got off to a great start, and it was a brilliant through ball by Sads for Zane to get his first goal for us. It was a great move and showed the quality we have in the team but after that we let ourselves down. We had chances in the first half, which had we taken, could have made it a totally different game but instead we allowed Sligo back into it.
“Our concentration levels weren’t where they needed to be and we got punished, which happened against Waterford earlier in the week as well. We had unforced errors and I felt we took our foot off the pedal at times, allowing Sligo to capitalise.
“We have to learn from that and learn quickly because tomorrow is a massive game. We have a tough run of fixtures in the coming weeks and we need to dig deep because we need to get back to winning.”
While Reynolds returns to the dugout after serving a three-match ban, Bohs also welcome back captain Dawson Devoy for tomorrow’s game after he sat out last week having accumulated five yellow cards this season.
Another boost was the reintroduction from the bench last week of Douglas James-Taylor, who had missed all bar one of Bohs’ fixtures this season with a niggling knee injury, while Dayle Rooney could also come back into contention after resuming training having missed the last six games, also with a knee injury.
Reynolds said: “They are three important players and any team in the league would miss them. We missed Dawson last week. He’s been brilliant all season for us and he’s probably the best midfielder in the league right now so it was a notable absence.
“We needed other players to step up but despite starting well, there just wasn’t enough energy in the middle of the park over the 90 minutes. I want us to be a team that plays with real energy and to be aggressive and creative in possession, but too often we were flat when we had the ball and we need to be better than that.
“Getting Dougie back in off the bench was a positive note. We have obviously really missed him this season but we need to manage his comeback properly as I’ve said before, and that is the same with Dayle.”
While Reynolds has been frustrated with his side’s form in recent weeks, the task doesn’t get easier against the league leaders at Tallaght Stadium.
Bohs have won four of their past five meetings with Stephen Bradley’s side, but they have won just one of their last 12 games at the Dublin 24 venue.
Reynolds added: “People don’t need me to tell them how good a team Rovers are. The table, and their record over the past number of years, speaks for itself.
“But we know how good we can be too. We dug deep to beat Rovers this season already, so we will go there with confidence.
“We’re bringing 1000 fans across the city to Rovers’ backyard, a packed out hostile stadium, and these are the challenges that anyone in football needs to relish.
“We’re not happy with our performance last week but we also know what we are capable of as well. We’ve worked hard on correcting the mistakes we made against Sligo and just as hard on improving what we’ve been good at as well. We know that task ahead of it and the job we have to do. We are really looking forward to it.”
Team news
Captain Dawson Devoy returns from suspension, but Adam McDonnell is banned following his sending-off against Sligo last week.
Having missed all but one of Bohs’ previous 10 games this season, Douglas Taylor (knee) returned to action last week as a second-half substitute.
Dayle Rooney (knee) could also be set for a return to the matchday squad having missed the last six games.