BOHEMIANS v LONGORD TOWN
EA Sports Cup Rd 1, Dalymount Park, Tuesday 22 March 2016, 7.45pm
Keith Long has told Bohemians to eradicate mistakes at the back if they want to progress in the EA Sports Cup on Tuesday night.
The Gypsies showed great character to battle back three times to salvage a 3-3 draw at home to Wexford Youths on Friday.
But having also conceded three goals in the 3-0 defeat away to St Patrick’s Athletic four days previously, Long knows his side need to shore up.
Long said: “One thing we couldn’t fault the team on was their determination on Friday. They didn’t let their heads drop and showed great spirit to come back three times.
“But we know we shouldn’t have been behind three times in the first place.
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“We will make changes tomorrow night. We need to eradicate mistakes and we will be putting out a team we feel are capable of winning the game.
“This is a competition we want to progress and do well in, so it’s important we don’t lose sight of that either.”
Long sought to address issues in defence against Wexford Youths with Daniel Byrne, who missed most of last season with cruciate and cartilage injuries, replacing Derek Prendergast after just 35 minutes.
He said: “I could have taken off any one of six or seven players at that stage, Del was the unlucky one.
“We needed someone to settle things down at the back. We were being bombarded by set pieces.
“Dan has great physical stature and he helped settle things. It was good for Dan too as he hasn’t played a lot of football in the last year or so.”
Another positive for the Gypsies was the performance of midfielder Ayman Ben Mohamed on his home league debut.
Long added: “Ayman was great, he was a real bright spark. He tired towards the end as he’s missed parts of pre-season and needs more game-time.
“But it was a fantastic home debut, we were really pleased with him. Mazy runs, taking on the opposition – that’s what fans want to see.”
Eoin Wearen (virus) is unavailable for selection again, while Kurtis Byrne (foot) also looks set to miss out. Anto Murphy (hamstring) is a doubt.
