Perth insists no-one is throwing in the towel
VINNY Perth has backed Stephen Kenny to turn things around at Dundalk after the champions slipped to their fifth league defeat in 12 outings away to Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night.
The result leaves the Lilywhites a massive 15 points off runaway leaders Cork City but the Dundalk assistant insists no one at Oriel Park is throwing in the towel.
He admitted Friday night’s display was not good enough but said no one was making any excuses for where the champions found themselves.
‘We’ve made a couple of mistakes again and conceded from two set pieces, a throw-in and a corner kick. It’s not good enough and we’ve got to fix those sort of issues and keep going,’ said Perth.
‘It’s a really bitterly disappointing night. The players are disappointed with what they’ve done tonight. They’ve let themselves down. It wasn’t good enough and that’s not what we’re about as a club.
‘We’ve got to fix it. We’ve to do a little bit more hard work on the training ground and get things fixed. Certainly no one will be throwing in any towels around here. We’ve got good characters in the dressing room and we’ve got to fix stuff.’
When it was put to him that Dundalk looked a pale shadow of their former selves, Perth didn’t look for excuses.
‘That’s probably a fair comment for the night that was in it and we’ve got to take that on the chin,’ he said.
‘We’ve had a huge amount of plaudits as a group and tonight they’ve got to take the criticism that comes from playing for one of the biggest clubs in the country and not performing. That’s what has happened over the past couple of weeks. The timing of these results is really poor. We felt that we’d have a difficult start to the season but we’ve let too many games turn into defeats that shouldn’t have been.
‘A lot of stuff went right before and people just presumed that happened overnight. It didn’t it took us more or less the first season. We’ve had a huge changeover this year and the hangover from last season is certainly there. If I say what I think is wrong it’d probably be considered as making excuses but there’s no excuses around here.
‘We need to work a little bit harder on and off the pitch. We’ve always been very good at that. Other teams have caught up with us in that sense so we’ve got to do a little bit more and do a little bit better. We’ve been a little bit unfortunate but again what’s the point in mentioning stuff like that. It’s excuses and we’re not making any excuses for where we are.
‘Tonight is probably a bad barometer of where we are. We haven’t played well and we’ve got punished off two or three bad mistakes. We should be at least four points better off than where we are but we are where we are and as a group a lot of players have to look in the mirror and take responsibility and I think we’ll do that.’
Despite the gloom around Dundalk at present, Perth backed Kenny to turn things around. ‘Things will get better,’ he said. ‘There’s no doubt we have the best manager in the country. He has
set high standards in this club for the last four and a half years. He has asked a few questions of everybody in the dressing room, myself included, and I think he’s got good people around him. We’ve got really good players and we’ll bounce back from this.
‘I don’t see it as the end of anything. We’ve a huge amount to play for this year. There’s no one going to throw a towel in here in this club. When you’ve got the best manager in the country you’ve got a great chance and he’ll make us great again, I’ve no doubt about it.’