Bradley happy with Saints form
Credit:
St. Patrick’s Athletic captain Stephen Bradley praised his sides good run of form following their 3-1 win over UCD at the Belfield Bowl. The Inchicore side stretched their unbeaten record to eleven games in all competitions following goals from Derek Doyle, Daryl Kavanagh and Danny North.
While the Saints were favourites to win against the Students, Bradley was keen to emphasise the significance of the away win. “It was important to get the win tonight because after having a few tough games against Rovers and Sligo, we did well, so it was important to keep the run going here.”
The early second half introduction of Shane McFaul for Derek Doyle by manager Pete Mahon proved successful as the Saints began to get on top of UCD’s five man midfield. Bradley, speaking exclusively to extratime.ie, pointed to the substitution as a turning point in the game.
“I think it helped us out a lot, Shane coming in, because in the first half they over ran us with the three against the two. So when Pete changed it up in the second half, we were able to get on the ball a lot more and play like the way we can.”
With Bradley and his teammates on top in the middle of the field, the Saints soon reclaimed the lead after Daryl Kavanagh headed in Bradley’s inswinging corner from the left. After adding another assist from a set piece to his tally this season, the Saints’ skipper put his side’s success from dead ball situations down to hard work on the training ground.
“They are going well. We work hard on them in training so when the lads make the movement, I just have to make sure the balls in are good and in the last few weeks, they have been and we’ve got a few good goals.”
Since joining St Pats following his release from Shamrock Rovers in the close season, Bradley hoped to make more appearances with the Inchicore side in comparison to his final year with the Hoops. With half of the Saints’ campaign nearly completed, Bradley has already made over 20 appearances and admits that regularly starting for Pete Mahon’s side has been a huge factor in his good form this season.
“It’s what I need as a footballer, I need to play games. I don’t like coming in and playing one game here and there, I need to play games and when I’m playing every game, I think you see the best of me with that bit of rhythm in my game.”
Despite the desire to regularly play though, Bradley admits he may be forced into sitting out Friday’s FAI Cup clash with Crumlin United as the Saints look ahead to their upcoming games such as their EA Sports Cup quarter-final against Cork City next week.
“Pete has said that he’ll talk to me during the week about whether he’s going to play me or not cause we’ve a lot of big games coming up. So I don’t know, I’ll have to wait and see what Pete says.”
While the Saints were favourites to win against the Students, Bradley was keen to emphasise the significance of the away win. “It was important to get the win tonight because after having a few tough games against Rovers and Sligo, we did well, so it was important to keep the run going here.”
The early second half introduction of Shane McFaul for Derek Doyle by manager Pete Mahon proved successful as the Saints began to get on top of UCD’s five man midfield. Bradley, speaking exclusively to extratime.ie, pointed to the substitution as a turning point in the game.
“I think it helped us out a lot, Shane coming in, because in the first half they over ran us with the three against the two. So when Pete changed it up in the second half, we were able to get on the ball a lot more and play like the way we can.”
With Bradley and his teammates on top in the middle of the field, the Saints soon reclaimed the lead after Daryl Kavanagh headed in Bradley’s inswinging corner from the left. After adding another assist from a set piece to his tally this season, the Saints’ skipper put his side’s success from dead ball situations down to hard work on the training ground.
“They are going well. We work hard on them in training so when the lads make the movement, I just have to make sure the balls in are good and in the last few weeks, they have been and we’ve got a few good goals.”
Since joining St Pats following his release from Shamrock Rovers in the close season, Bradley hoped to make more appearances with the Inchicore side in comparison to his final year with the Hoops. With half of the Saints’ campaign nearly completed, Bradley has already made over 20 appearances and admits that regularly starting for Pete Mahon’s side has been a huge factor in his good form this season.
“It’s what I need as a footballer, I need to play games. I don’t like coming in and playing one game here and there, I need to play games and when I’m playing every game, I think you see the best of me with that bit of rhythm in my game.”
Despite the desire to regularly play though, Bradley admits he may be forced into sitting out Friday’s FAI Cup clash with Crumlin United as the Saints look ahead to their upcoming games such as their EA Sports Cup quarter-final against Cork City next week.
“Pete has said that he’ll talk to me during the week about whether he’s going to play me or not cause we’ve a lot of big games coming up. So I don’t know, I’ll have to wait and see what Pete says.”
