Stephen Bradley picks out Power and Clarke performances as positives from ‘a really strange’ 4-4 draw

Stephen Bradley (centre) with Glenn Cronin (left) and Stephen McPhail

Stephen Bradley (centre) with Glenn Cronin (left) and Stephen McPhail Credit: Eddie Lennon (ETPhotos)

Macdara Ferris reports from Tallaght Stadium

You have to go back 79 years for the last home game that Shamrock Rovers drew 4-4 so it is no wonder that Hoops Head Coach Stephen Bradley described the eight goal thriller with Cork City on Monday as a “strange” match.

Bradley wasn’t happy at all with the defending that saw his team concede four league goals for the first time in five years (since a 5-2 home defeat to Dundalk in June 2018) but he found some positives in the attacking display from both Trevor Clarke and Simon Power.

“It was a really strange game,” said Bradley speaking to extratime.com afterwards. “It looked early on that we were going to go on and win quite comfortably and then we gave up really poor goals.

“It was four goals (conceded) but it could have been six and we could have scored seven or eight. We know that our defending was nowhere near our level and our standard.”

The xG according to Wyscout was 4.31 Rovers to 1.46 City, 31 shots (13 on target) to 13 (10 on target) with a corner count of 17 to 1.

Trevor Clarke’s attacking threat saw City resort to fouling the left wing back. Gordon Walker went in referee Rob Harvey’s book after 35 minutes. Colin Healy withdrew his right back three minutes later with his replacement Jonas Hakkinnen hacking down Clarke three minutes after he came on to pick up a yellow.

“In the first half on Friday (against Derry) Trevor (Clarke) was excellent but tonight he was brilliant and caused them all sorts of problems. He was unlucky not to score at the end as well. He will only get stronger and better as he gets fitter. He hasn't played many 90 minutes in the last few months.

“Simon (Power) did well. He looked bright and busy up front. He created opportunities and caused them problems. He scored one and was unlucky not to get a second. It was exactly what we are looking for from players off the bench. He was very good.”



The result leaves the Hoops on just three points from their first four games. In 2009 and 2010 under manager Michael O’Neill Rovers were on the four point mark after four games but went on to finish runners up and champions in either year.

The Hoops will be looking for their first win of the season when they travel to Tolka Park on Friday in what Bradley described as “another tough game”.

When Colin Healy spoke after the game he talked about the disappointment of only drawing having scored four goals against the champions.

“Could we have defended better?” questioned Healy. “You could say yes but it’s always hard to defend the lead with the quality they have. They are aggressive and they showed it. 

“They unleased the bench and brought on the likes of (Graham) Burke and (Richie) Towell and overloaded wide areas and put balls into the box. It is a tough place to come. To score four goals and only get a point is disappointing.



“You do sit back and you invite pressure on you and they had a lot of set plays. You could say we could have defended better but the quality that they have and their aggression showed in the end.”

Darragh Crowley was on the scoresheet twice and Colin Healy picked out the player, who is one of City’s Academy graduates, as one of the brighest on the Tallaght pitch.

“Darragh has been brilliant for us. He is a player who goes in and does his job and I thought he was probably one of the best players on the pitch.”

About Macdara Ferris

Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile