Lee Grace wants Shamrock Rovers to banish their away day jitters by making a statement in Dundalk tonight.
The Hoops returned to the top of the Premier Division table - on goals scored - after beating their arch rivals in Friday’s derby at a rocking Tallaght Stadium.
In doing so they maintained a 100% home record this season after earlier wins over UCD and Drogheda United.
But the champions head to Oriel Park tonight having lost both of their away games to date - at St Pat’s and Derry City.
Yet centre-back Grace is not unduly concerned and insists the performance against St Pat’s was one of their best this season.
Grace said: “We're after losing two games on our trips away, but no panic buttons. We'll try to play our game tonight and fight as hard as we can for the three points.
“I thought we clicked against St Pat’s. They didn't create a whole lot and Bohs didn't create anything on Friday.
“We were playing some nice football in stages, but we need to do it over 90 minutes. But the Bohs games will always end up in a scrap.
“We're getting there and with the games coming around we're only going to get better with people getting into their stride, so it’s looking good.”
New look Dundalk - under their former skipper Stephen O’Donnell - are still a bit of an unknown quantity with so many new faces trying to gel.
But Grace points to the experienced spine of the team with Andy Boyle, Brain Gartland, Robbie Benson, Patrick Hoban and David McMillan as reasons to be on guard.
“It’s going to be another tough game. We know what we’re going to get. Dundalk are strong this year again, we never get anything easy up there anyway,” he said.
“They have a few new players that none of us would know and the boy Steven Bradley got Player of The Month and is supposed to be a good player.”
His namesake, Hoops boss Stephen Bradley, insists Rovers are still finding their feet this early in the season and is adamant they have huge scope to improve.
He was delighted with Friday’s hard-fought win over Bohs and would love to bookend it with victory in Oriel.
Bradley said: “It's not about laying down a marker, it's about continuing what we did against St Pat’s and in the first-half against Bohs.
“We know that we’ve levels to go. Against St Pat’s was the first sign of us getting there. Friday night, we looked it again in the first-half.
“Tonight it's about going again with more of that. But Dundalk will get better and they're good right now.
“The more they get together, they will understand what Stephen wants in how they play.
“They have some very good and dangerous players. They have some players that have been very successful in the league over a long period of time.
“He has a strong core group and bits of quality around it. They're a real goal scoring threat and one that we have to respect and be ready for."
And Bradley said he wasn’t surprised to see his old Arsenal team-mate O’Donnell join Dundalk after leading St Pat’s to FAI Cup glory last season.
The switch caused consternation behind the scenes in Inchicore but Bradley said: “I think he has a real affiliation with Dundalk and what he did there as captain.
“Whatever else went on behind the scenes, I wasn't surprised at all.”
Meanwhile, O'Donnell has paid tribute to hotshot Patrick Hoban, who netted his 100th league goal for Dundalk in last Friday's 1-1 draw with Shelbourne.
Hoban's header looked set to seal the points for the Lilywhites, but Sean Boyd's late penalty meant the spoils were shared.
Although disappointed not to win, O'Donnell expressed his delight at Hoban's latest landmark - and recalled the striker's early struggles at Oriel Park.
It wasn't until injury-time in Hoban's sixth appearance for Dundalk that he found the net - in a 2-0 win against Cork City in 2013. He followed that up with the winner in his next game, away to Bray Wanderers.
It has taken him just 177 league games to reach the magical century and O'Donnell said: "It's brilliant, an unbelievable achievement. For a player to get 100 league goals for one club, all in the top flight, a great achievement and long may it continue."
O'Donnell added: "You don't foresee that someone will score 100 goals for the club.
"He started off, he hadn't scored in his first few games....but he never looked back in Dundalk colours, the first and the second stint, after that [Cork] goal."
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