Laws likes look of Rovers display

Shamrock Rovers’ win away to Bray last Friday night earned the Hoops only their third win in the Carlisle Grounds from their last 11 visits to the venue.   The Director of Football at Rovers Brian Laws knew the difficulty facing his side at the seaside and he was pleased with the performance of his players who implemented the game plan effectively as he explained exclusively to extratime.ie after the game.

“People were telling me Bray in the last couple of seasons were a real bogey side,” said Laws, “and they’ve always been tough.  That is what we got today; it was a tough game.  However, the approach that the players took was first class and was very professional. 

“We looked much more organised and we are not conceding silly goals.  Obviously that has been a real problem for us, in that we have given teams a head start before we’ve even got started.  The fact that we got ourselves in front, it gives us a much better chance.  In the first half, I thought we were very much in control of the game.  We looked composed on the ball, passed it well at times when we could.” 

Rovers made excellent use of the set plays that they earned in the game, with Killian Brennan opening the scoring with a fine free kick on 17 minutes.  Brennan had to leave the game soon after due to injury.  “He has a dead calf that was getting tighter so we pulled him off as we didn’t think it was worth risking it,” explained Laws. 

Gary McCabe’s delivery from dead ball situations and running at the Bray defence, created lots of opportunities for the champions.  Rovers captain Ken Oman made the most of an in-swinging McCabe corner to power home a header to give Rovers a 2-0 half time lead. 

Laws outlined that his team have been working hard in training on their dead ball delivery.  “Set plays are vital in any division you play in. Goals are created from them. If you get that right, that is half the battle.  The training we have been doing has been working on our set plays, our shape and our runs.  I thought we looked menacing from set plays and caused them all sorts of problems. 

“What pleased me most was the fact that we were getting a lot of crosses in the box,” explained Laws.  “In the last three games that I’ve seen, we’ve had more crosses tonight than we’ve had in all those games.  What that tells me is that the players are taking on board what we’ve been trying to do in training.

“There is more of a supply to the strikers, more efforts on goal and that is what it is all about.  What we are trying to do is keep our game simple.  We aren’t trying to over complicate things”

It was a man-of-the-match performance from Gary McCabe who Laws acknowledged “has been working extremely hard.”   McCabe’s late penalty wrapped up the win for Rovers and made it four goals for him from the last three games; with three of those goals coming from the penalty spot.

Laws has also been pleased with the return to form of Gary Twigg, a player who there is much speculation about regarding a move away from Rovers to the Irish League at the end of the season.  The Scotsman, who scored two goals in the previous weeks’ 7-0 win over Dundalk for the Hoops, has 19 League goals to his name this season.  He looks set to finish top goalscorer in the Airtricity League Premier Division once again; his third top scorer title in his four seasons in the League of Ireland.

“Twiggy is looking sharper than ever.  He has got a smile on his face, which is pleasing as I think when I came in his chin was on the floor.  He is looking hungry again and the goals that he got last week have helped immensely.”