Boss pleased with dominative performance
GERARD Lyttle says a complete team performance was the catalyst to Sligo Rovers’ 3- 0 win over Limerick on Saturday night.
The Bit O’Red boss beamed with pride when speaking to the Sligo Champion following his first win as Rovers boss and his side’s first league win in four attempts.
The Belfast man says he and his team took a lot of heart from the display, particularly in picking up just their second clean sheet of the year.
“I thought tonight we were very, very good. I think it’s been coming for a while”, he mused.
“We showed a lot of hard work and determination this evening and when you get that then your luck changes. The game plan was executed right to a tee, every man carried it out well.
“There was a great shape about us and the back particularity in denying Limerick any opportunities of getting ahead and picking passes. If they put in a shift like that every week then we’ll do well.
Rovers crashed out of the EA Sports Cup in disappointing fashion on Monday week last but the Rovers supremo could only praise his team’s determination to turn their luck around at the weekend. Raffaele Cretaro, the club’s second highest all- time scorer behind the legendary Johnny Armstrong gave a stellar performance, chipping in with his second minute strike. While Jonah Ayunga doubled the lead 13 minutes later to set Rovers up for their third league win of the season.
“When you’re down the wrong end of the table it can be all doom and gloom but the boys have responded.
“A standard has been set and now hopefully we’ll kick on from this and move up the table.”
“The early goals, they were really important. Lately we’ve been scoring goals but then switching off so it was vital we managed the game after scoring and tonight everything was on point.
“We asked for some leadership from the older players and they showed it. We kept our shape and our line.”
The goalscorers may have captured the headlines on Sunday morning but Lyttle was quick to point out the effort each of the players put in.
He also spoke of how important it was to keep the players’ feet on the ground at the break despite such a composed opening 45.
“The pleasing thing is that we’ve kept a clean sheet. But it’s not just the back line you’ve to praise. It’s the team as a whole.
“They pressed and worked together. There were leaders out there and everyone worked together. It was a strong team performance.
“I didn’t want anyone high- fiving each other at half- time because it was a job half done. We had to follow through in the second half with the same hard work and determination.”
Rovers suffered an opening night collapse with an extremely poor performance against the same opposition under former boss Dave Robertson back in February.
Lyttle says the memories of that humiliating 5- 1 defeat at Markets Filed stuck with the players up until last week.
“We asked the lads about how they felt going in after a 5- 1 defeat and whether they wanted that feeling again.
“Obviously the answer was no and the players showed that. I think we looked sharper and fitter tonight.
“That’s down to training work. If we can bring that into every game then we’ll do well.”
However inspiring the performance was, Lyttle has called on his players to get back to work and repeat the trick against Dundalk on Friday night. The fact that he was able to name the same starting eleven two games running also gave him satisfaction.
He challenged the fringe players to keep improving and pushing the regular starters for places.
“We’re not going to get carried away. We’ve set standards and both personal and team goals. But it’s a start and hopefully this will give us that bit of confidence we needed.
“We’ve spoken about momentum and being able to keep with the same starting eleven the last few games and now we can build on that. Players now have to start fighting for places and that can only be good.”
He also asked supporters to give time to the less experienced members of the squad.
“They’re a young team and young players need to be loved. If you show them that then it instills some belief in them. We need to be patient with one or two of them who are still going through that development stage. But they all have ability and talent and they each have it in them. If you show work ethic then everything else will shine through.”
Kieran Sadlier was again in top form as struck for Rovers’ third of the night during the early exchanges of the second period, effectively killing off any hope of a Limerick revival. Lyttle reserved praise for the Irish underage international’s hard work up and down the left side: “Kieran’s a special talent. We’ve got him working on his defensive duties now but when you get him higher up the pitch he’s so creative and balanced with both feet.”
Lyttle is expected to delve into the transfer market during the summer with his side still lacking experience and presence. He said the plan is still to add further additions but said any new arrivals may find it hard to break through should performances continue to improve. “We’ll always look to see where we can strengthen”, he concluded.
“You can’t stand still. Come July we’ll look to add one or two but if we play like we did tonight it’ll be hard for anyone to get into that team.”