Bohs bemoan close call as Rovers retain the high ground
WHEN a tight Dublin derby in front of a 7,500 crowd is settled by one goal, it’s the marginal calls that provoke the most post-match debate.
And as Friday fever subsided in Tallaght Stadium, the talking point in the Bohemians camp was the penalty appeal that went unanswered, and a hollow feeling of what might have been.
From the press seats, it looked as if Shamrock Rovers defender Lee Grace bumped Bohs winger Kris Twardek to the ground in the box, denying the visitors’ winger a goal-scoring chance.
‘It was a penalty. You guys saw it as well as I did. We shouldn’t be bemoaning the referees but we are again, unfortunately,’ insisted Bohs manager Keith Long. Just as doctors differ, so Stephen Bradley took an alternative view. The Rovers manager felt it was a ‘coming together’ of Grace and Twardek.
Penalty? ‘I don’t think so,’ he said. ‘We were right behind it. It was the exact same with Danny Mandroiu when he went in, similar sort of scenario, the bodies come together.’
Had referee Rob Hennessy pointed to the spot, ‘it would have been soft’, he said.
As for Grace, he was adamant. ‘It was a bit of a wrestle,’ he recalled.
‘I knew he (Twardek) was there but I just couldn’t see him so I just got an arm on him, held him off, flicked it (the ball) with my left leg.
‘That’s what I remember but I haven’t seen it back. No, never a peno.’
The incident came just before half-time when Rovers were deservedly in front through Rory Gaffney’s goal but the second half was a different story for the champions, who were pinned back for periods.
With Dawson Devoy prompting from midfield,
Bohs sniffed an equaliser only they couldn’t unearth the truffle.
How different it might have been if Georgie Kelly was still on their books as he’d have loved the physical intensity of it all, and fed off the half chances.
With Promise Omochere suspended, the Gypsies lacked bite in the final third. Rovers weren’t at their best either, but they could call on the quality of Gaffney, Graham Burke, Aaron Greene and Mandroiu, and have deeper attacking reserves than most. The Premier Division table is as tight as a miser’s fist and few would have imagined Rovers being top after losing two of their first five games.
They are playing well, in patches, but are not at their classy levels of 2020 and 2021, while their rivals have made noticeable improvements.
‘There are no panic buttons being pressed yet. Sometimes you play well and don’t get the rewards,’ said Grace.
‘I thought on Friday night we were good in the first half, not as good in the second but we won the battle.
‘No one is getting carried away. It’s on to the next one.’
Next up are the old foes, Dundalk, in Oriel tomorrow. O’Donnell v Bradley as Stephen’s Day falls in mid-March.