Paisley impressed with Shels character

Shelbourne recovered from what Stephen Paisley termed "an early setback" to defeat Bohs 4-2 in the EA Sports Cup on Monday night and the defender says that if the Reds play to the same standard in the league they "should go close to getting promoted."

Paisley scored the equalising goal with a powerful header from a Conan Byrne corner on 14 minutes to cancel out an early David Lodola goal. From there, Shels never really looked back with Philly Hughes sending them into the half-time break 2-1 leaders over their North Dublin rivals. Paisley looked a constant aerial threat in attack, something which he acknowledges as a strong point of his game. "I suppose I'm a bit of a threat from set-pieces, I'm always trying to get on the end of them" he said. "It's always nice to get a few goals earlier in the season."

"I think the goal was a bit fortunate on their behalf, it took a deflection and caught our 'keeper as he was going the wrong way" Paisley said of Bohs opener- a Robert Bayly shot which took a wicked deflection off David Lodola. "He [Shels 'keeper Paul Skinner] did well to try and get a hand to it but it was just too big a deflection. It tested our character early on and I think a lot of lads stood up and were counted on the night."

Barry Clancy doubled the Shels lead on 59 minutes, only for Bohs to claw one back through Robert Bayly eight minutes later. Clancy made sure of the win by scoring his second goal of the evening with five minutes remaining. Paisley says that playing against Bohs was a useful barometer of where this Shels team is at, and he says he hopes to be playing them more regularly in the near future. "We need to play against teams of the calibre of Bohs week in week out" the centre-back said. "It's always nice to have a cup run and get the confidence up. There's always the chance of winning some silverware too, but our number one focus is the league. That's where our priority is."