Bohemians v Drogheda United
SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division
Friday April 19 2024, Dalymount Park, 7.45pm
Tickets: tickets.bohemians.ie

Alan Reynolds has called on Bohemians fans to give his side the encouragement they need to make it three wins in a row.

Bohs made it two wins in a row for the first time this season when they followed up last week’s 2-1 victory away to Shelbourne by coming out on the right side of a 1-0 scoreline at home to Dundalk on Monday night.

Tomorrow, they face another Louth side at home when Drogheda United are the visitors to Dalymount Park.

Reynolds said: “We want to build on a positive week, make it three out of three, keep the momentum going and try to go on a run.

“There is always a great sense of occasion and great atmosphere at games at Dalymount Park, and we want to send our home fans happy.

“But there is expectation when you play at home at Dalymount Park too, and with that expectation comes pressure on the players. I think the players felt that even more so this season because there was an up and down start.

“They don’t want to let the fans down but we know too that we are still a work in progress, and I think our supporters know that too.

“That means we need patience during games and, most importantly, all the encouragement from fans that we can get because when they get behind us, and really encourage our players, it builds their confidence and is something that spurs them on.

“There is a positivity among the players now after two wins on the bounce and we need everyone, fans and players, to pull in the same direction to build on that.”

Those two wins propelled Bohs up to third place but Reynolds says Bohs are still looking over their shoulder as much as they are at those teams currently ahead of them in the table.

Drogheda have already beaten Bohs this season – in Declan Devine’s penultimate game in charge – and Reynolds knows his side will have to dig deep once more to beat Kevin Doherty’s men.

He said: “We’ve seen now what a couple of wins can do in terms of moving up the table but we know too what a couple of defeats can do in dragging you back down again.

“We are conscious of both ends, and it is so early in the season. All we can do is take it game by game and do everything we can to win.

“We kept a clean sheet on Monday and that gave us a platform to build on. That has to be your starting point – being hard to beat – and we will get better attacking as we go. But first and foremost, we have to be hard to beat.”

Injuries, suspension and a congested fixture list have forced Reynolds’ hand somewhat when it comes to picking his starting XI.

He made six changes for Monday’s win, but was glad of the opportunity to change things around and assess the depth of his squad.

Reynolds added: “It gave me a chance to see more of what we’ve got, and what they can do. I need to see everybody.

“I got to see Filip Piszczek play for the first time. He has only been back training a few days but we threw him in and he did well. He is a handful and I believe he will get better as he gets more games under his belt.

“James Akintunde has done exceptionally well up front in recent weeks, and came off the bench to score on Monday, but we need those options. I always thought that the lads on the bench would play a big role, and come on and affect the game. James, Declan McDaid and others did very well when they came on.

“With three games in a week, there will obviously be changes around again. Obviously Jordan Flores returns from suspension, and he is a big player for us. It’s up to everyone to take their opportunity to impress when they get it.”

Team news

Jordan Flores returns from suspension. Keith Buckley and Rob Cornwall remain out.

Bohemians v Dundalk
SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division
Monday April 15 2024, Dalymount Park, 7.45pm
Tickets: tickets.bohemians.ie

Alan Reynolds says Bohemians enjoyed their Dublin derby win on Friday night but were straight back to work over the weekend as they plot something that has eluded them so far this season – back-to-back victories, starting with tonight’s clash with Dundalk at Dalymount Park.

A much-improved Bohs performance on Friday saw them beat the league’s early pace-setters Shelbourne at Tolka Park, with two goals from Jordan Flores – a penalty and a header from a corner – enough to see claim a 2-1 victory.

It was a morale-boosting win, and was Bohs’ second Dublin derby from four this season having struggled last year against teams from the capital.

But back-to-back victories is something Bohs have failed to achieve this season, and that inconsistency was a feature last season too. It is something Reynolds is determined that his side must address.

He said: ”The most pleasing thing about Friday was that I felt we looked comfortable. Shels are a good side but bar a ten-minute spell in the first half we were comfortable.

”We got a break and finished the half better, scored the penalty and scored from a corner kick. It was a tough game against a good team. But we were comfortable, and we need to build on that now.

”We enjoyed the win, and it was important for the fans as much as the players, but we have to follow it up. There’s no point getting yourself up for a Dublin derby if you can’t follow it up.

”Bohemians haven’t won back-to-back games this season and that’s not good enough for a club like Bohs. It’s obviously something we spoke about over the weekend and is something that has to change.”

Reynolds was relieved to finally have a full week to work with his new side ahead of the Shelbourne game after a busy fixture schedule since he took charge three weeks ago.

But with games coming thick and fast once more, Reynolds will be without the suspended Flores for tonight’s clash, and is also sweating on the fitness of other key men. He has challenged those afforded an opportunity to start.

He added: ”We have a decent squad and people will get a chance. There will be changes with Jordan out and a number of other players struggling with niggles after a busy couple of weeks. But it’s up to others to step up and take their chance when they get it.

“Last week was the first week I worked with them as I came with so many games in a short space of time.

“It was chaotic during the first eight or nine days so we had a bit of time with each other last week and I got to know them better. What I do know is that they care and want to win. Are we perfect? Far from it. But winning a Dublin derby will help.”

Team news

Jordan Flores is suspended, while Luke Matheson, Adam McDonnell, James Akintunde and Filip Piszczek are all doubts. Rob Cornwall and Keith Buckley remain out.

Tickets

Some Des Kelly Stand tickets remain on sale from tonight’s game and are available from tickets.bohemians.ie.

Match sponsors: Conduent Transportation

Tonight’s match sponsor is Conduent Transportation. Transforming how cities, and towns, keep people moving. With people, process, advanced technologies and analytics, Conduent’s intelligent public transport management systems deliver mobility and payment solutions that cut congestion and create safe, seamless journeys for everyone. They have kindly given their match hospitality tickets to kids from the local Bradóg Youth Services, and send their best wishes that they enjoy their matchday experience at Dalymount Park. See Conduent Transportation – Transforming how cities, and towns, keep people moving for more details.

Alan Reynolds has encouraged Bohemians fans to stick with his side and give them a lift when they make the short trip to take on Shelbourne at Tolka Park.

Bohs have had an up and down start to their 2024 campaign with three wins, a draw and four defeats from their opening eight games.

Tonight’s opponents, however, have been the surprise package this term and sit six points clear at the top of the table and remain unbeaten with six wins and three draws from their opening nine games.

But it is still very early days – as Bohs found after their own blistering start last season – and Reynolds is backing his side to improve.

He said: “When you work for a big Dublin club like Bohs you realise how important all derby games are to the fans.

“Shelbourne have really good players who are playing very well at the moment. They are top of the league for a reason, so we have to respect them as they have really good players who have shown they can hurt teams.

“But from our point of view, the most important thing is getting ourselves right. We have to deal with their attacking threats but we have to make sure we are an attacking threat ourselves.”

Reynolds says Bohs cannot have a repeat of last week’s game against Waterford where he felt they wasted possession in the opening half before giving away a cheap goal that allowed Keith Long’s side a platform to sit back and see out victory.

Reynolds said: “We didn’t start well, which was very frustrating given how well we started against Galway on Monday. We need to start like that every game but against Waterford we weren’t good enough.

“We gave away a cheap goal and that is something we have to rectify and have been working on because it gave Waterford the platform to change how they play and approach the game because they had a lead to cling on to.

“We’ve learned a lot over the last couple of weeks but we have to be better and work a lot harder than we did. We had our chances though but ultimately it was a frustrating night and we have to do better.”

Despite that frustration, Reynolds believes he has a side capable of improving and encouraged Bohs fans to get behind them and give them time.

He added: “The players need support and we need our fans to stick with us. There is obviously frustration this season, and we obviously all understand that.

“But we have some very good young players here, and a lot of new players too, who I feel can thrive if the fans stick with them as I have no doubt they will in what is a massive game now tonight.”

Team news

Dylan Connolly is a doubt. Keith Buckley and Rob Cornwall remain out.

Alan Reynolds takes charge of Bohemians at Dalymount Park for the first time tomorrow night and is relishing the occasion of taking on his hometown club.

Reynolds’ first home game in charge sees him pitted against Waterford where he served as assistant manager until his arrival at Bohemians last week having previously had two stints as manager of the club.

And in the away dugout, Keith Long returns to manage a side in Dalymount Park for the first time since his near eight-year tenure as Bohs manager came to an end in August 2022.

Reynolds said: “We both have a job to do and it is important that we do everything we can to push on now and get the win, and I’ve no doubt Keith will be saying the same.

“But it will be a big moment for Keith coming back to Dalymount too, and I hope he gets the good reception he deserves here. He speaks very fondly of the club and has a lot of good memories from his time here.

“For me, I’m managing Bohemians in Dalymount for the first time against my hometown club, which is exciting and something I am relishing personally, even if there might be a few divided loyalties in the family!”

Bohs come into tomorrow’s game on the back of an impressive 2-0 win away to Galway United on Monday night thanks to goals from Jevon Mills and James Akintunde.

It was the perfect response to a disappointing Dublin derby defeat away to Shamrock Rovers on Friday where Bohs impressed in the first half but collapsed in the second, succumbing to a 3-1 defeat.

Reynolds said: “That was the conversation we had with the players and the challenge for them going into Monday’s game was to start strongly but to keep it going.

“Against Shamrock Rovers, we played well for 30/35 minutes but then let it drop, so the aim for us was to sustain a high level of performance for a lot longer and keep going.

“The players were disappointed with themselves on Friday night as they feel they are better than that. We got a good response from them on Monday and now we want to build on that.

“With three games in eight days we haven’t had the time we would like on grass to work on certain things with them and to help them get better, but it was a good response in Galway.

“There is an honest bunch there who want to improve, and who want to give their very best for Bohemians.”

Both goals against Galway came from headers after set-pieces delivered by Dayle Rooney – the first a free-kick met by Mills and the second a corner met by Akintunde.

Reynolds said: “I’d love to take credit for those but I have to give credit to Derek Pender and Trevor Croly. They’ve worked hard on them with the players and they worked hard on them for the week before I came in too.

“They were good deliveries from Dayle and the boys attacked them well. But we defended well too, which is something we really needed to improve on from the game against Rovers.

“Galway are a big, strong and physical side but we stood up to them and defended very well, and again I have to give a lot of credit to the coaching staff for the work they’ve been doing with the players to help us improve at the back.”

Reynolds was delighted to send the travelling crowd at Eamon Deacy Park home happy too after their disappointment in Tallaght three nights beforehand.

He added: “Before the game, Derek Pender spoke to the players and touched on the fans constantly travelling away from home in huge numbers, and the importance of repaying the support that they give the team every week.

“It was my first time taking charge of the team outside of Dublin but from listening to the staff and players, I know that fans of this club sell out their allocation everywhere we travel and create good noise wherever we play, so it is important for us as a team to send them home happy and with something to cheer about.

“We were delighted to be able to do that on Monday and now we want to do it again at home.”

Team news

Martin Miller and Bart Kukulowvicz come back into contention, while Filip Piszczek is rated doubtful.

But Bohs will be without Adam McDonnell and Dylan Connolly as well as long-term absentees Keith Buckley and Rob Cornwall.

Alan Reynolds says he will not judge his Bohemians side after one game in charge but says they need to learn from their mistakes quickly to move up the table this season.

Reynolds’ side impressed in the early exchanges in his first game in charge away to Shamrock Rovers on Friday night and with the game scoreless at half-time, there was reason to be optimistic ahead of the second half.

But Bohs were subjected to a bruising performance by the hosts, succumbing to a 3-1 defeat that could have been more, with Declan McDaid’s goal in injury-time of little consolation.

Reynolds said: “I’m not going to judge the team after that one game. It’s going to take time for me to put in what I want to, and to get the team playing the way I want them to. But it was a very tough start.

“The game-plan early in the first half worked well and we were solid defensively. But we know that we needed to keep the ball a lot better.

“The goals we gave away early in the second half were cheap goals to concede, and we were chasing the game from then on.

“You can’t give a team like Rovers a leg-up like that. We needed to start the second half a lot better than we did.

“There’s a lot to learn from the game. I was pleased with some aspects early on but we didn’t keep the ball, didn’t pass the ball well enough, we were outdone physically at times and rode our luck when it came to defending set-pieces. These are all things we need to work on and get right quickly.”

Bohs face another tough away game this evening against a Galway United side buoyed by a win away to Derry City on Friday night.

Reynolds knows the challenge ahead having been assistant manager at Waterford when they lost 2-1 to the Tribesmen at Eamon Deacy Park last month.

He added: “We are looking forward to the trip but we know it’s another tough game. We had the players in for their recovery session on Saturday after Friday’s game and we had a good training session yesterday, so they know what is expected of them.

“I was only up in Galway a few weeks ago with Waterford. Galway are a very good side and are very effective. The way they’re playing is very smart. People will talk about John Caulfield and Ollie Horgan and playing one style but there’s a lot more to them than that.

“They had a great win on Friday against a good Derry side so we know that it is going to be a hard game. We will make some changes after Friday, and we will need everybody at their very best to get a result.”

Team news

Bart Kukulowicz, Martin Miller and Filip Piszczek are doubts. Keith Buckley and Rob Cornwall remain out.