Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Mark McCadden

Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley won't lose any sleep over 'kick in the arse'

Stephen Bradley says Bohemians’ comeback against Shamrock Rovers is a “kick up the arse” - but he is not going to lose any sleep over his side’s failure to hold onto a two-goal lead.

And the Hoops boss plans to scout their possible Champions League opponents next week in Iceland.

He will fly out to Reykjavik after Monday night’s clash with Derry City to watch the four teams that are battling to face Rovers in the first qualifying round.

Icelandic side Breiðablik are favourites to progress from the semi-final/final scenario, against teams from Montenegro, San Marino and Andorra.

They have 10 players capped by Iceland at senior international level and two experienced Faroe Islands players.

And Bradley warned: “They are a good side. We will go there next week and have a look at the four teams.

“I would expect them to go through when you look at their squad, they have a strong team.

“We will go there on Tuesday and see the four teams.

“I will go, sometimes you can't, the scout or Stephen McPhail goes but the fact that we play Monday means I can go on Tuesday morning.”

Bradley is after a better result than Friday night’s 2-2 draw with Bohs. Having built up a two-goal lead, with strikes by Neil Farrugia and Markus Poom, he had hoped his side would see out the win.

However, Jonathan Afolabi and James Clarke had other ideas and they rescued a point for the Gypsies.

“Some of our play was excellent, we need to understand what happened and correct it,” said the Hoops boss.

“We got a kick in the arse and came away with a point, we will take that. Worried? Not with that performance. It happens and we move on.”

He added: “First-half some of our build up in the first two-thirds was very, very good, the final third wasn't in the first half. We were very sloppy with our final bit.

“We felt at half-time if we just tidied up on that we could cause them real problems. We did that in the second-half and got the two goals.

“We're usually very good in those situations. Once we go ahead, we see the game out or go and punish teams. But we got sloppy for 10 minutes and it's cost us.

“We've had three Dublin derbies, won two and drawn one. We'd probably take that if you said it at the start of the year.

“We're disappointed with the second half because we didn't see the game out like we normally do.

“We'll have to reflect on that but it's a point and we'll see how important it is at the end of the season.”

Aaron Greene is back in contention for Monday’s game, but Gary O’Neill faces another 10 days on the sidelines.

Ronan Finn picked up a knock against Bohs and will be assessed over the weekend.

“Trevor Clarke is going for an operation on Monday, he will be a longer one, 10 weeks,” Bradley explained.

“(Alan) Mannus is back training, now it's about building the strength in the finger.

“It's only a matter of time and Leon (Pohls) has been excellent since he came in.

“If you asked Alan, he'll say he's the best in the country, Leon, he knows one or two things about goalkeeping.”

Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.