“We get good crowds who create a good atmosphere and the players enjoy playing in Dalymount.

“But I feel we seem to enjoy the tag of underdog a lot better than being favourites.

“There is more of an onus on us at home, which brings that expectation. But we have to be able to deal with this.

“Expectation is part of the game and we must show character and resolve now to answer our critics. I can think of nothing better than starting with a win at home to Bray.”

Tonight’s opponents have had a well-documented tumultuous past month.

Three weeks without pay has seen players leave and and a strike notice served, while manager Martin Russell quit late last night.

That strike notice is on hold for now after wages were finally paid yesterday and Long expects a fight from the division’s bottom side.

He said: “Bray players won’t let a change in manager affect them. They will be motivated and positive going into this game.

“Their players have been through the mill over recent weeks with the well-documented events taking place at the club regarding unpaid wages.

“The lads don’t seek or want this type of media attention – they are footballers and that’s what they want to do play football.

“They should not have to go on strike as a mechanism to get paid. Clubs need to be accountable and contracts need to be honoured.

“On the pitch, they haven’t let it get to them though so we have to be ready.

“They have have beaten Sligo in their last league outing and considering our last home game resulted in us losing 3-0 here, this game takes on even greater significance for us.

“We need to go out and show what we’re made of.”

TEAM NEWS

Derek Pender is suspended after being shown a straight red card against Sligo Rovers last week. As a result, Andy Lyons is promoted from the U19s as cover.

Goalkeeper Colin McCabe (shoulder) and striker Ryan Swan (cruciate) remain out.

Midfielder Philly Gannon has left the club by mutual consent with Long adding: “I’d like to thank Philly for his 18 months at the club.

“He’s worked hard but he’s at the stage where he needs and wants to be playing first-team football. We wish him all the best for the future.”

Long said: “On the back of a decent display down in Waterford, we go into tonight’s game in a positive frame of mind.

“Our performance down in the RSC was good. We played with intensity and determination not to be beaten against a top side with some really talented players.

“We have talent in our group also and first half we showed that in abundance, creating several chances and perhaps could have gone in at the break with more goals to show for our efforts.

“I thought we were denied what looked like to me a stonewall penalty in the first half and maybe with better execution, we could have extended our lead into the second half when Waterford came on strong and we had to dig in to come away with a point.

“We had a large vocal travelling support who made the trip to the south east, it was great to see so many supporters there getting behind their team. We hope for more of the same tonight.

“We need to build on the results since the break with an opportunity tonight against Sligo who will be as desperate as we are to pick up the points, which are so important at this stage of the season.”

Expected to feature in tonight’s squad is Daniel Kelly. The midfielder/winger joins from Bray Wanderers for whom he scored in their visit to Dalymount Park in March.

Kelly said: “I’m delighted to have signed for Bohs. I am buzzing. I can’t wait to get going and hopefully I’ll do well.”

TEAM NEWS 

Ian Morris (hamstring) is a doubt. Ryan Swan (cruciate) remains out.

Bohs on the other hand have to contend with the loss of Dylan Watts after the playmaker’s loan deal and contract with parent club Leicester City expired.

Long said: “Dylan is a big loss for us, there’s no shying away from that. He’s been an exciting player to watch and we’ll miss him. But we’ll be working hard to strengthen in areas if we can.

“Waterford have already strengthened again this month, bringing in players with a good pedigree.

“They’ve good resources behind them – resources we’d be envious of. I don’t say that begrudgingly, it’s good for the league to have a strong Waterford team but it makes the challenge for us even greater.

“They’re in a good position in the league and have proved difficult opposition for any team this season.

“But we have shown on our day that we are a match for anyone. But our day has to come more often than it has done.

“We’re going down buoyed by winning a Dublin derby though and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Bohs had goalkeeper Shane Supple and a wonder goal from Kevin Devaney to thank for their day coming last Friday.

Outplayed by St Pat’s for the opening half-hour or so, Supple was called into action more often than he would have liked to keep the score level before Devaney conjured up a bit of magic to fire home the game’s decisive goal from 35 yards out.

For a team who can feel hard-done-by with some results this season, getting the three points on board was the most important thing.

Long added: “It was an important win. We’re getting towards the business end of the season so every win is important and every point matters.

“We were fortunate to have been scoreless when we took the lead.

“We were frustrated by our performance in the first half, it was a strange half. We were very slow to start playing, the heat and fact it was first game back after a week off might have played a part there.

“But we coughed up far too many chances for St Pat’s and we had some great saves from Shane and some last-gasp clearances from Derek Pender and Co to thank for keeping us in the game.

“We rode our luck, on another day we could have been three down. But it was a beautiful goal – something out of nowhere – by Kevin Devaney and it was worthy of winning any game.

“We made a couple of tactical and positional changes at half-time that saw us improve in the second half but the important thing was we found a way to score and we found a way to win.

“If you contrast that to our previous game two weeks previously where we went down to Cork, conceded in the 89th minute and were desperately unlucky to come away with nothing, then you can you can say we deserved some good fortune last week. We were delighted with the result, if not the performance.

“As I said last week, if we produce that performance in Cork every week, we’ll be fine.”

TEAM NEWS

Loanee Dylan Watts played his last game for the club against St Pat’s after his loan deal and contract with Leicester City expired.

There were two late withdrawals ahead of last week’s game. Dinny Corcoran (groin) remains a doubt, but Keith Buckley (bug) returns.

Ryan Swan (cruciate) remains out.

“Conceding so late in the game was very disappointing. But overall it was a good performance.

“If we play like that every week, we will be fine. But we all know we have to be more consistent.”

While Long was disappointed with some recent results, opposite number Liam Buckley will also be frustrated with his side’s recent form, which has seen them drop into the bottom half of the table.

But Long is only concerned with improving the form of his own team, which has been buoyed by the return to fitness of Darragh Leahy and Karl Moore.

Long said: “The break has maybe come at a good time for St Pat’s too as they’d lost five in a row before that.

“But we can only focus on ourselves. Our lads have gone away for a few days and they’re back determined and with a renewed energy to push forward.

“We know we have to be better on the pitch. But everyone is back looking forward to that challenge. They’re chomping at the bit.

“With the league going to ten teams this year, this was always going to be tough.

“Other clubs have increased budgets exponentially. We knew it was going to be a challenging season.

“But we’re not going to shy away from that challenge – we’re looking forward to it.”

As Irish temperatures today soared to 30 degrees again today, Long hopes football fans will take advantage of the first break day in the World Cup to come along to Dalymount for a Dublin derby.

He added: “It’s going to be a great evening for football. Hopefully we’ll have a big crowd in early.

“We want to give our fans something to shout about and repay the faith they’ve shown in us.

“Our home form has let us down at times and that’s something we are striving to put right.”

Darragh Leahy (knee), Karl Moore (ankle) and Colin McCabe (shoulder) are all available for selection once more.

Cristian Magerusan, out with a broken metatarsal since pre-season, played 45 minutes and scored for the U19s in a friendly against Glentoran on Saturday as he continues his recovery.

Ryan Swan (cruciate) remains out.

“But we’re not going down feeling sorry for ourselves – we’re going down with the aim of getting something from the game.”

Bohs’ fighting spirit this season has been rightly lauded.

They have come from behind to earn points seven times – three wins (Shamrock Rovers twice and Bray) and four draws (Limerick twice, St Pat’s and Shamrock Rovers).

But last Friday it was too little, too late. JJ Lunney’s 86th-minute goal gave the Gypsies a sniff of snatching a point.

But the damage was already done in the first half when Derry scored twice in the space of three minutes and Bohs struggled to get back into the game thereafter.

Such defensive frailties have seen the Gypsies fall behind in games far too often for Long’s liking.

He said: “We can’t shy away from where we are.

“We need to be better from the start and stop giving ourselves an uphill battle in every game

“We’ve been praised for our fighting spirit this season but people who went to Dalymount last week would not have seen that from us.

“We need to build on having a never-say-die attitude anyway. We have to become more difficult to play against and stop conceding.

“If we keep things tight at the back, we’re in completely different territory. We have a chance of nicking a goal and getting a result.”

TEAM NEWS

Both Darragh Leahy (knee) and Karl Moore (ankle) are back training but this game will come too soon for them.

They are targeting a return after the mid-season break when St Patrick’s Athletic come to Dalymount Park on June 29.

Cristian Magerusan (metatarsal) and Ryan Swan (cruciate) remain out.