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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Paul O'Hehir

Stephen Bradley insists Shamrock Rovers' away form is no cause for concern

Stephen Bradley insists it is too early in the season to stress out over back-to-back away defeats.

And he has downplayed the confidence boost that title rivals St Pat’s and Derry City will have got from beating the champions already.

After losing to a last minute strike in Derry, Shamrock Rovers went down 1-0 to St Patrick’s Athletic at a heaving Richmond Park on Friday.

But the Hoops have banked full points from their two home games against UCD and Drogheda United.

And they will look to maintain that Tallaght Stadium form going into Friday’s derby showdown with arch rivals Bohemians.

Rovers boss Bradley said: “It's early. You don't like losing games at any point. Derry, we were 10 seconds away from drawing a game that was a draw really.

Shamrock Rovers' Stephen Bradley (©INPHO/Evan Treacy)



“It's a mistake from Pico that's very unlike us. There was nothing in that game at all with the wind conditions.

“But Friday against Pat’s was a lot more like us. I was happier that night than I was against Drogheda, to be honest.

“I thought against Drogheda we were off our levels but we looked back to our levels on Friday and looked good.

“We trust what we do and if we produce that performance nine times out of 10, with the chances we created, when you see the stats, we win more games than we lose.”

And Bradley is not unduly concerned at the confidence St Pat’s and Derry City will get from beating Rovers just four games into the season.

“No, no,” he said. “You play Friday’s game again tomorrow and you win it. Play it the day after and you win it.

“Every now and again you get a result like that with a performance like this and you accept it.

“Again, I'd take that rather than the Drogheda performance when we were off our levels and a little bit of magic (from Jack Byrne) got us the win.

“Friday was a lot more like us.

“We were aggressive in our play, our positions were really good, our timings were really good, our defending was good, we had runners. We looked dynamic.”

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