Stephen Bradley has hailed Roberto Lopes as the best centre-half in the league - and he has backed him to bounce back from Friday’s costly error.
Lopes’ mistake led to Jamie McGonigle’s last gasp winner for Derry City against the Hoops.
He attempted to keep the ball in play and knock it 40 yards back to goalkeeper Alan Mannus, but his underhit pass was seized on by McGonigle, who finished in style. Bradley raced to the defence of Lopes.
“It’s very, very rare that you would see something like that from Pico,” said the Hoops boss.
“He has been tremendous for us. Week in, week out he has been unbelievable for us. He is, in my opinion, the best centre-half in the country over the last few years. He’s made one mistake. It happens. We have to accept it and move on.”
“I thought it was a scrappy one-aller and then he makes a very uncharacteristic mistake, which is very, very rare.”
Rovers looked to have secured at least a point after Dylan Watts’ free-kick cancelled out Will Patching’s opener from the penalty spot.
Bradley added: “I thought in the first-half they [Derry] were the better team. The conditions [strong wind] played a big part in that.
“Then in the second-half the roles were reversed and we were the better team. Conditions played a big part in that again.
“It looked like it was going to be a draw. In the last 10 or 15 minutes we were probably in the ascendancy.
“But Pico makes a mistake, that is very, very rare for him and we get punished. It’s a great finish from McGonigle. He still had work to do. It had a draw written all over it. It wasn’t a great game, it was scrappy, but we got punished for a mistake.” Bradley expects Derry to be one of the main contenders this season for Rovers’ crown.
“When you spend the money that they spend – and it’s brilliant, don’t get me wrong, we need more of it in the league – of course you are going to be up there,” he said. “They have a strong squad and I’m sure they’ll expect the same.”
Rovers can bounce back straight away from Friday’s loss when they host Drogheda United tonight.
The Boynesiders lost their opener on Friday night when they were beaten 2-0 at home to Damien Duff’s Shelbourne.
Asked what he could do between the two games to get Friday’s defeat out of their system, Bradley responded: “Just do what we do, just trust what we do.
“The second-half was a lot more like us. So just trust what we do. We know what works, we trust it.
“You don’t like to lose at any point, we lost tonight, it’s early, second game of the season and we get ready to go again on Monday.”
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