We haven’t been beaten at home since first game
IF you take a look at the SSE Airtricity Premier Division table, us Rovers fans should be happy. We wanted to be mid- table, we wanted a boring season with no drama or worries. Consolidation was the aim. This season is about straightening things up. That’s been done. We are where we wanted to be. You’d be forgiven for taking a look at social media and forums and thinking out expectations and aims were far higher for this year. But things change throughout the season. The reality is, the league is poorer this year. An average team like Derry City are sitting in third place in the table. They were there for the taking on Friday night. Like Longford were there for the taking last week, and Bray a few weeks ago.
It’s brilliant that our home form is so good. That’s a massive plus for this season.
I don’t get why people have a go at Dave Robertson for always picking that out as a positive after a game - it really is.
We haven’t been beaten at home since Shamrock Rovers on the opening day of the season - that’s incredible form for a mid- table team. But we could be doing better than we are. Again, mid- table is what we wanted and we knew it wasn’t going to be exactly pretty at times, but this year has come with its disappointments. There’s no point pretending it’s all been plain sailing. I think I speak for a lot of fans when I say how disappointed I am that we haven’t seen more of our young, local players, for whatever reason.
Ross Taheny has moved to Ballinamallard and that is such a sad sight. Ross is one of the brightest talents to come trough the Rovers underage system.
He can play in numerous positions and we need versatile players within the squad. But someone like Taheny needs football, and if he has to move to get that then so be it. But it’s a huge shame.
It looks like Gary Armstrong could be on his way too. Gary, like Ross, needs football. But we’ve seen him play for the first- team.
He’s won man- of- the- match three times since he first appeared for the first team. He was good enough two years ago, what’s changed? Local players are so important to Rovers, and we take massive pride in them as a club and a community.
This should be their year. It should be their chance to show what they can do - they have something to prove. But now they look like they’ll have to go elsewhere to do that. I’m not saying play them week in week out, but they need a chance.
And if they’re not good enough then so be it - at least others will see that too. While I think fans need to calm down a little bit, I can also understand some of the anger coming from them.
We’re not going to challenge for a title, but if we push on enough you just never know how far we could go this year. It’s been frustrating at times, it’s disappointing when we see no subs on even though players look like they’re out on their feet and need a break, and it’s a terrible shame our young players aren’t being given a few minutes. All managers have their own way of doing things.
That’s fine. But I couldn’t help but feel we needed a couple of changes on Friday night just to go at Derry for the last few minutes. The squad is going to be stretched over the next few weeks, so I’d imagine there will be a few changes from game to game, and people will get chances. But if Pat McCann signs and Dave Robertson gets his striker then opportunities will be lesser for those fringe players.
We have a wonderful set- up for Under 17s and Under 19s, and there are some brilliant people involved with those two teams. It would be a shame if we didn’t get to see those lads coming through to the senior squad.
We have to remember how far we’ve come since last year, but we do have the potential to go even further this year, particularly with how poor some of the teams in the league are. You all saw how successful the annual draw was - raising € 55,000 for the club when the FAI think they’re being so generous giving each club € 5,000. Thanks lads, but that’s not going to do much for a professional club. We have amazing support. Don’t ever forget that.