Saints boss Daly admits team in a rut after defeats
JON Daly has acknowledged St Patrick’s Athletic are ‘in a rut’ after slipping ten points off the Premier Division pace.
Under Daly, the Saints have experienced an upward graph for much of the past 12 months, highlighted by FAI Cup final success last November in front of a record crowd.
But back-to-back defeats away to Derry City and Shelbourne have suggested a levelling off as the Saints have slipped into the bottom half of the table.
‘We’ve kind of had a steady climb and this is the first time we’ve had we’ve had to dig in and try and find a way. It’s a challenge,’ said Daly.
‘I’m more than prepared to knuckle down, roll up the sleeves and get back on the horse and go again.
‘At the minute, we’re in a little rut that we’re trying to get out of. I’m sure we’ll do that.’
Daly let his players know what he thought of the performance after Friday’s 1-0 loss to Shelbourne.
‘You probably have to sometimes let the players know you’re frustrated and not happy. That’s part of the game.
‘I’m a passionate guy, I probably don’t show it an awful lot. What was said was said. We move on and hopefully we get a reaction from it.
‘I thought we were good up in Derry but I thought we were poor on Friday night. We need to find a way of winning whether we are playing well or not.
‘If we had managed to win — which we’re more than capable of but on Friday’s performance, we’re not — we’re four points off top of top of the lead.
‘Unfortunately, we’re ten points off top and we’re having to chase our tails. We’ve got to make sure we’ve a big performance next week against Drogheda.’
The untimely injury absence of defensive linchpin Joe Redmond and closeseason signing Ruairí Keating didn’t help against Shelbourne.
‘He (Keating) is still carrying that issue from (Shamrock) Rovers. We thought it was gone against Derry but he was still carrying it a bit. It is difficult.
‘We expected things to be better but still firmly believe we can turn things around.’
Pat’s had their moments on Friday, chiefly midway through the first half, but they lacked punch. In contrast, when Shels got on the front foot, they rammed home the initiative and scored.
‘It’s the same as up in Derry. It’s scoring when you’re on top. In this league, so important to score that first goal. When you have that bit of dominance, you need to make it count.
‘They (Shelbourne) had bit of pressure, got the goal off the back of that. Then they gave them the confidence to kick on. It was disappointing, it’s not good enough.’