Stephen Bradley: 'We don’t stop believing in what we do, we keep moving the ball'

You have to go back 629 days to Shamrock Rovers' last home league defeat.

That was a June 2019 encounter with Dundalk that the Hoops dominated but lost 1-0 with Sean Gannon getting the winner. It was a game that Stephen Bradley has spoken about previously as a turning point for his club – giving his team the belief that their style of play could take on the Lilywhites and beat them in the title race.

That belief was in evidence on Friday night in Tallaght as they started the defence of the title they won convincingly last season. They dominated the game against St. Patrick’s Athletic but found themselves a goal down with three minutes remaining.

There was no panic for the Hoops though. They didn’t resort to lumping it long but worked ball wide to facilitate a cross into the box. 

When Robbie Benson blocked Sean Hoare’s centre, the former Dundalk defender got on the ball again. Hoare whipped it into the box and Aaron Greene rose high above Sam Bone to head the equaliser. 

“We don’t stop believing in what we do, whether we are 1-0 up or 1-0 down, we keep moving the ball,” said Hoops Head Coach Stephen Bradley speaking with extratime.com after the  game. “We know a chance will come and it did. It was a fantastic header from Aaron.

“We were disappointed we didn’t go ahead in the game and take all three points but when you are one down with three minutes left you take a point."

With Rovers’ game away to Derry City next week likely off due to international call ups for the Candystripes, the Hoops certainly didn’t want to be sitting with zero points for the next fortnight.

Bradley felt they should have had three points though but hadn’t been clinicial enough in front of goal.

“I felt when they had scored, we had completely taken control of the game. There was chance after chance and we got hit with a sucker punch. We had some chances where we just needed to hit them. We looked like we were trying to score a perfect goal.

"We were in the box taking that extra touch instead of shooting. It is something we will need to improve on. Their ‘keeper did well. He made three really important saves. Even the rebounds fell a half yard away from us in their favour which is what sometimes happen.”

The Saints had held Rovers to two scoreless draws last season and were set up to stifle Rovers again and look to hit the Hoops on the break – which they did when Robbie Benson’s centre was deflected past Alan Mannus off Roberto Lopes late on.  

“We have to take it as a compliment that teams are going to play that way against us. They are showing respect.”

It was another excellent performance by new signing Chris McCann who on a number of occasion opened up the play with some raking diagonal balls out to the Rovers wings.

“He is real class. You can see his quality on the ball and his temperament. He plays the game at his pace, quickens when he needs to, slows it down when he wants. He has a tremendous range of passing. He will be a big player for us.”

Late drama yields draw between Shamrock Rovers and St. Patrick's Athletic on opening night

Match Report from @macdarabuellerhttps://t.co/Gp8yf3WKhWpic.twitter.com/nunLPJSXwH

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) March 20, 2021