“Everyone wants to beat Shamrock Rovers”- McAllister
SHAMROCK Rovers midfielder David McAllister believes the Hoops are the one team, against whom, all other sides in the league step it up.
Given the success the club has enjoyed down through the years, Rovers are a team, McAllister insists, that other sides particularly aim to scalp.
David McAllister insists all teams in the league step it up when they play Shamrock Rovers
“Something I came to quickly realise last season is that everyone wants to beat Rovers and that’s the team we play for now,” he told The Echo.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a bitter thing, but teams just want to put one over on you and that’s something we have to deal with.
“You see it especially with teams who have ex-Rovers players like Bray. They have a point to prove and they managed to beat us twice last season so we’ll be hoping to get a bit of revenge when we play them on Monday” he said.
McAllister was speaking in the wake of Rovers’ disappointing 3-1 loss in their 2018 season opener away to arch rivals Bohemians.
Stephen Bradley’s side made a bright start when Ronan Finn put them 1-0 up on 21 minutes, but second half goals by Dan Casey either side of a Patrick Kavanagh strike proved more than enough to see the homeside bag the spoils.
“It was a bit of a collapse by the team,” recalled McAllister.
“We didn’t really recover from the first goal and then it was just a bit of bad marking for the other two.
Big game against Dundalk
“It was very disappointing, but we have the chance to get that out of our system with another big game coming up against Dundalk.
“All through pre-season we were all focused on the first two games against Bohs and Dundalk. These are two massive games.
“Dundalk are in a similar situation to us. On paper, you might have thought Bray at home would have been an easy three points for them.
“I know they lost one or two players so, like us, they’ll be coming into this match under a little bit of pressure. But we’ll be looking to get that bit of revenge after losing to them in the [FAI] Cup semi finals last season” he said.
Following on from that massive fixture, Rovers will welcome Bray Wanderers to Tallaght Stadium on Monday night.
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