Alan Reynolds says Bohemians need to win back the trust of supporters and rise to the challenge of expectation.
After the initial high of the opening day of the season win against Shamrock Rovers, Bohs have crashed back down to earth with defeats against Derry City, Cork City and Drogheda United.
Reynolds admits Monday’s loss to Drogheda was the most disappointing yet as Bohs failed to perform in front of their home fans in their first game of the season at Dalymount Park.
He said: “The results haven’t been good enough but what was most disappointing was how we performed against Drogheda on Monday night.
“Against Cork City on Friday, we created chances, got crosses in but didn’t take our chances when presented with them.
“It was different on Monday in that despite all the possession that we had, we didn’t get at Drogheda at all.
“It was our first game at Dalymount this season and you want to set a marker, and give your fans something to get behind but we simply didn’t do that.
“We have good quality players in our team but we didn’t show that quality, and we didn’t show the aggression, creativity or penetration that our fans expect of us and that we expect of ourselves.
“Fans are frustrated by that and, as I said on Monday night, it is up to us now to roll up our sleeves and, collectively as a team and as a backroom team, to win back their trust.”
Those efforts start away to Reynolds’ former club Waterford, who went top of the table with victory against Cork City on Monday.
With three wins from their opening four games, Keith Long’s side have lost only to champions Shelbourne so far and have also claimed the scalps of Derry City and Sligo Rovers.
Reynolds said: “Waterford have had a great start to the season, so we have to be a lot better than we have been over the past couple of weeks. Monday simply wasn’t good enough.
“We have some quality players at the club now but we need to play with more confidence and conviction, and assert ourselves on the opposition.”
Team news
The experienced duo of captain Keith Buckley and Jordan Flores, who both started against Cork City last Friday but who were not risked on Monday against Drogheda United after injury lay-offs, come back into contention.
However there are doubts over Lys Mousset and Rob Cornwall, while Alex Lacey remains out.
