Stephen Bradley would rather keep a full team on the pitch but reckons Shamrock Rovers have learned to cope with numerical setbacks.
The Hoops received their seventh red card of the season in last night’s 2-0 win over Dundalk where Aaron Greene fired a brace.
In the dressing room afterwards, the striker gave his man-of-the-match award to Josh Bradley, the manager’s son, who was the subject of sick taunts in Cork a week ago.
READ MORE: Stephen Bradley considered quitting management after chants about his son
Rovers were fuming when three of their players were sent off in that Turner’s Cross clash, and lost 1-0 to the Rebels after conceding a late goal.
But in Tallaght last night, the champions dealt with Ronan Finn’s 48th minute dismissal by quickly turning a 1-0 lead into a 2-0 advantage to power over the line.
And Rovers boss Bradley said: “It was a sending off but we handled it really well.
“Last week’s experience has definitely helped us tonight. We felt we should have come away with at least a draw last week, even going down to eight.
“We looked back at the game and we knew what we needed to tidy up, and you could see when we went down to 10 the spaces that were there last week weren’t there tonight.
“We got our rewards but, yes, the experience of last week definitely helped. We looked nice and calm and composed. We probably should have won by more.
“We train with overloads, whether that’s defensively or offensively. You have to work on that as it can be thrown at you at any minute. That’s a big part of how we train.”
Bradley added: “We knew Dundalk would come and press us but we felt we could cause them real problems if our decisions were good.”
Match winner Greene gave his MOTM award to Bradley’s son, Josh, after a difficult week where some Cork City fans taunted the 9-year-old over his cancer battle.
Last night, Rovers fans sang Josh Bradley’s name and the travelling Dundalk fans offered their support by applauding those chants.
“It's incredible, obviously from Shamrock Rovers fans but also Dundalk fans as well, I thought it was incredible support they showed Josh,” added the Hoops boss.
“A massive thank you to both sets of fans. He's in the dressing room and Aaron has given him his award, he's walking around like he's won it!
“It's finished off a difficult week for him and it's nice he's in there happy and goes home with a trophy.”
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