Alan Reynolds says his Bohemians side are relishing being back on home turf for the first time this season.
The club’s decision to play the opening game of the season against Shamrock Rovers at the Aviva Stadium, followed by successive away trips to Derry City and Cork City, has Bohs players chomping at the bit to finally play a game at Dalymount Park this season.
With all home sections sold out, and just a handful of tickets remaining for travelling fans in the Mono Stand, Reynolds is hoping his side will make the most of home advantage.
He said: “It’s our first game in Dalymount this season, which is something the new players have been really looking forward to.
“We have a lot of new players in the group this season, and they’ve been told what a great place Dalymount is for atmosphere, so we all want to start the game positively as we mean to go on and have our fans behind us from the start.
“We know that our supporters have had to dig deep for three difficult opening games and have been right behind us in the Aviva and in the two away games at either end of the country that we’ve had so far. They’ve supported us in big numbers and we want to repay them for that.
“There is something special and different about playing in front of your own supporters in a packed out Jodi Stand, so that is something that we have all really been looking forward to, and we hope that it’ll be a cracking atmosphere.
“The fans have a part to play but the onus is on our players to produce at home in front of them. We want our players to excite our fans, and be aggressive in and out of possession, to get the crowd behind them.”
Reynolds returns to the dugout having had to watch from the gantry in Turner’s Cross on Friday as a result of being sent to the stands in the previous game against Derry City.
He watched on in frustration as Bohs, despite bossing lengthy periods of the first half, failed to make their dominance count.
A deflected shot from skipper Keith Buckley, making his first start after an agonising 18-month lay-off, sent the sizeable travelling contingent into raptures after 21 minutes, and was no more than Bohs deserved.
But their failure to convert the many first-half goalscoring opportunities they had created ended up costing Bohs dearly, with the experienced duo of Seán Maguire and Ruairí Keating combining to send Bohs home empty-handed.
First, Maguire popped up for the equaliser ten minutes before the interval and, after Bohs failed to match their performance of the first half, Keating punished them seven minutes from time.
Reynolds said: “We were really frustrated with the result. When you watch back the game, we had so much of the ball in the first half, played some really good stuff and created more than enough chances to put ourselves out of sight.
“We showed in that period that we have players who can cause a lot of problems and open up teams, but we didn’t test the goalkeeper enough for all the chances we created. We should have been further ahead than 1-0, and you have to make those periods count.
“We weren’t the same team after Cork City scored the equaliser so we have to be stronger mentally when we suffer a setback, and show more composure when we have those periods of dominance.”
Bohs will have to work even harder to create and take their chances against Kevin Doherty’s Drogheda United, who have conceded just once in their opening three games of the season.
Reynolds added: “Every year people seem to underestimate Drogheda and they continue to silence the doubters.
“They won the Cup last year, and have a really good side who are an organised group. They’re three games in, unbeaten and have only conceded once so there’s no doubt in our minds as to how good a team they are and how hard we are going to have to work against them, but we are really looking forward to that challenge.”
Team news
Rob Cornwall is suspended, while Jordan Flores (Achilles), Rhys Brennan (shoulder) and Alex Lacey (calf) are doubts.
