Alan Reynolds says Bohemians need to be clinical in defence and attack in what he expects to be a real battle against Waterford at Dalymount Park tonight.

A penalty from Dayle Rooney and an own goal had Bohs in the lead once more against Drogheda United last week but they had to settle for a 2-2 draw in the end.

Despite impressive passages of play and spells of dominance in recent games, Reynolds says his side need to start capitalising on them, and also tighten up at the back when they take the lead in games.

He said: “We know we need to be scoring more, and as I’ve said previously that is not just all on our forward players either. We need that edge in front of goal right across the team and be clinical when chances come our way to move up the table.

“We have to be stronger in defence too. We’ve taken the lead in both of our previous two league games so we are capable of hurting teams but when we have the lead we need to capitalise in attacking positions to push ahead further in games but also know how to defend our lead in the first place.

“There have been improvements in our performances but we need to turn those improvements into wins by being clinical in attack and clinical in defence.”

Reynolds faces his former club tonight as Keith Long returns to Dalymount Park once more in the opposition dugout.

Bohs have lost both home and away to Waterford this season, so Reynolds knows his side will face another tough game in Dalymount Park tonight.

He added: “We’ve worked really hard this week and we are looking forward to what we know is going to be a really tough game against Waterford.

“We watched a lot of Waterford and we know their strengths but they will know a lot about us too, so it should be a really good battle.

“Waterford have shown their qualities, and they were very good against Shamrock Rovers last week. But we have to look after ourselves and our own performances right across the team.”

Team news

Bohs are without Leigh Kavanagh after his red card against Drogheda United last week and are sweating on the fitness of Jordan Flores, Alex Greive and Archie Meekison. Rob Cornwall, James McManus and Keith Buckley remain out.