Alan Reynolds wants Bohemians to build on a positive fortnight when they travel to take on his hometown club Waterford this evening.
Bohs followed up a 3-0 win away to Sligo Rovers two weeks ago with a last-minute equaliser from Danny Grant to draw 2-2 with St Patrick’s Athletic last Friday.
Reynolds was disappointed to see his side behind in that game in the first place – mistakes at the back costing Bohs dear in an otherwise encouraging performance.
He said: “We are really looking forward to this game. We’ve had an encouraging couple of weeks but we know we need to keep that going now
“We had a very good win down in Sligo and I felt we had a good performance against St Pat’s too.
“We shouldn’t have been behind in the first place, and we were disappointed that we were, but the pleasing aspect of it was that we never gave up.
“They had worked hard in training all week and didn’t want to come away empty-handed and I think that showed in how we kept pushing and pushing to get an equaliser.
“I was delighted for Danny to get the goal. You could see it meant a lot to him. He’s chomping at the bit to play and to get a chance. Hopefully this can spur him on now to have a strong second half of the season.”
Tonight’s trip to the RSC poses another big test for Bohs. It is Reynolds’ first game away to his former club since taking the reins at Dalymount Park at the end of March.
Waterford is a club he played for and managed and, most recently, served as assistant manager to Keith Long.
Waterford came out on top of a 1-0 scoreline when the sides met in Dalymount at the beginning of April but that was only Reynolds’ third game in charge and he feels his side are in better shape now.
He added: “Waterford are a very good side. I obviously know a lot about them, and helped to sign a good few of them too!
“But for us it is about focusing on our own performance. We still have a lot of work to do and improvements to make but I think we are further down the road to where we want to be than when we last played Waterford.
“A lot of work has gone into training this week, it will be a very different game to our last couple of games, but the lads are well prepared and looking forward to it.”
Team news
James Clarke returns from suspension but James McManus (foot) joins Brian McManus (ankle), Keith Buckley (knee) and Rob Cornwall (knee) on the sidelines.
Luke Matheson, Jordan Flores and Dayle Rooney, who all saw their gametime against St Pat’s curtailed with knocks, are available for selection.
