Bradley positive despite loss to the champions

STEPHEN Bradley has remained upbeat despite seeing his Shamrock Rovers side left empty-handed after their opening game of the Airtricity League season against champions Dundalk.

The Hoops were edged out 2-1 and might even have salvaged something at the death had David McAllister not been denied by the crossbar when he got his head to Brandon Miele’s free kick.

What’s more they, could have been first out of the blocks after Darren Meenan broke through, but his effort was just off target.

In the end, two defensive errors brought about two clinical attacks by the homeside the first of which resulted in Michael Duffy eventually playing the ball across the face of goal where Robbie Benson was on hand to tuck it away.

The second arrived early in the second half when Patrick McEleny dinked an inch-perfect crossfield ball towards Ciaran Kilduff and he nodded it down and in.

The newly-acquired Graham Burke hauled Rovers back into the running when his effort found the back of the net with the help of a deflection.

Yet no sooner had he thrown his side a lifeline when he was shown a straight red for a bad challenge on Jamie McGrath, and despite their best efforts, they were unable to bridge the gap.

“There are lots of positives to take from that game” insisted Bradley.

“We went up to play a team that has won the league for the past three seasons and we pushed them all the way. That just shows you how far we’ve come.

“We didn’t want to lose it, but there have been 15 changes to this squad this season and we could still have won this game.

“You have to take your chances, but their goals came from two errors. It wasn’t that they were playing great football and opening us up.

“We were the ones pushing forward in the last 15 minutes and doing all the attacking. And to do that with 10 men shows what this team is all about”

Next up for the Hoops will be the arrival of arch rivals Bohemians to Tallaght Stadium tomorrow night.

The Gypsies will be disappointed at their poor start to the new league season which saw them suffer a heavy loss to Derry.

Notwithstanding that, Bradley believes their northside rivals do not need much in the way of incentive to get up for tomorrow night’s fixture.

“It’s the biggest game of the year for them and our biggest game.

“They [Bohs} try harder against us than they do any other team and we have to be ready for that intensity and try and match it.

“It’s all about competing and winning those second balls and hopefully our quality will win through” he added.