Alan Reynolds says his Bohemians side need to dust themselves down and pick up where they left off last week when they make another cross-city trip for another Dublin derby tomorrow.
Bohs take on St Pat’s at Richmond Park having fallen to a 2-1 defeat to Shamrock Rovers last week in a game where they piled the pressure on, hitting the woodwork twice, leaving Tallaght Stadium wondering how they were going home empty-handed.
Reynolds said: “It’s never nice to lose any game but it’s particularly tough to lose to your rivals after giving the performance we did. What I will say is that I don’t think anyone can say we didn’t deserve something out of that game.
“Rovers have been the best team in the league for a long time now but some of our play was brilliant at times and we created enough chances to win any game.
“We didn’t start well and it was a bad mix-up for their opening goal, conceding after just five minutes, but after that we were by far the better team.
“Their second was a penalty that shouldn’t have been given in a critical period of the game when we were on top and had just hit the woodwork at the other end.
“We threw a lot at them in the second half, obviously pulled one back from the penalty spot, and we did everything right bar putting the ball in the net to get a second.
“But the performance was there. The previous week I was talking about a performance against Sligo that wasn’t good enough and below the standards we expect of ourselves.
“Last week was a different story – the performance was there but we were punished by one bad mistake and a penalty that shouldn’t have been given.
“There were plenty of positives from throughout the game, and getting Dayle Rooney and Douglas James-Taylor back out on the pitch was a big bonus as well.
“They will obviously need time to get back up to speed again but it was a big step in the right direction because they are two of our best players and we have missed them.”
While Reynolds saw encouraging signs, he says results need to improve. Bohs are now without a win in six games, having been the early-season form-setters, remaining unbeaten for their opening 10 games.
Tomorrow, they face a St Pat’s team who are three points ahead of them in second.
There has been little between the sides in their most recent meetings. The 0-0 draw at the Aviva Stadium on the opening day of the season was the third successive such scoreline between the clubs who finished just two points apart last term.
Reynolds said: “We need to get back to winning games, so we have got to push ourselves to be better. We created plenty of chances last week – we need to do that again but we need to be putting more of them away.
“We got plenty of deserved plaudits in the opening series of games but we are on a run now that we know we need to improve quickly.
“If we were to take last week’s game in isolation, it was a very good performance by us and it was a game we certainly didn’t deserve to lose, but it comes on the back of a run of games where we have underachieved, dropping points we shouldn’t have dropped.
“If we played like we did last week in those previous games, we would have more points on the table in this series of games.
“So we need to keep that tempo up from last week, right from the off, as well as being more clinical.
“St Pat’s are a really good side, it’s another big Dublin derby away from home for us so we need our lads to dust themselves down and get on with it.
“We’re confident in what we are trying to do – there’s nobody in our dressing room feeling sorry for themselves.
“We have a tough run of fixtures against some of the best teams in the league but we are relishing that challenge. We are well prepared, and the lads are hungry to get on with the job and get back winning.”
Team news
Bohs are at full strength, with Adam McDonnell available for selection once more having served a one-game suspension last week.