‘ Men against boys’, concedes Rovers boss
GER Lyttle expressed his unhappiness at his team’s second half performance following Friday’s 4- 0 defeat to Dundalk. The Belfast man saw his Sligo Rovers side stick with the Lilywhites throughout the opening 45 but a catalogue of defensive errors in the second period went a long way towards the final result.
Speaking to the Sligo Champion at full- time, Lyttle said the squad travelled to Louth with the confidence to secure a positive result following the previous week’s win over Limerick.
Scoreless at the break, things went badly awry for the Bit O’Red in the following period.
He conceded: “In the second half it was men against boys and they ( Dundalk) were far superior in everything they did. Their onetouch play was good and physically they were stronger.
“I’m disappointed because you think that maybe we had turned a corner with the result last week. You come up to Dundalk and you’re may be a wee bit confident of getting something.
“Then when you don’t you’re bitterly disappointed. But I’m not happy with how we conducted ourselves in the second half.”
Dundalk have struggled this term to hit the heights of the previous three years, lagging 13 points off leader Cork City in the Premier Division table.
However, the Rovers manager was realistic in his appraisal of both sets of players and what either team could offer from their respective benches.
Stephen Kenny introduced experienced campaigners and league winners Stephen O’Donnell, Tommy Stewart and Ciaran Kilduff in the second half while Rovers brought on 19- year- old Mathew Stevens, under 19s striker Mikey Place and Craig Roddan.
“Hats off to them. They are champions and there is a reason for that.
“You look at their bench, you look at their squad. They can replace like for like.
“They’re replacing their players with men and we’re putting kids on really and that’s no reflection on our players - it is what it is. Dundalk are a benchmark for everyone else really.
“They are where we want to be and through hard work and dedication, there’s no reason why our boys can’t match them.”
Lyttle introduced Roddan, a defensive midfielder for striker Jonah Ayunga shortly after Jamie McGrath had handed the Lilywhites the initiative.
Explaining the decision, he stated: “Jonah got a bit of a dead leg when he came in at half- time and was struggling so we had to make a change.
“We tried to get extra support up to Raff ( Cretaro) a lot quicker but it obviously didn’t work.
“We chopped and changed because we wanted to come here and win the game.
“Maybe we were a bit naive but we tried to win it. We went two up top to try and get support up there to Raff who worked his socks off.”
Lyttle did reserve praise for the energetic Cretaro who he said set the example required as the veteran busied the Dundalk rearguard when Rovers did have the ball in the opposition’s half.
“We spoke to one or two players out there and told them they have to have the same sort of mentality as Raff if we want to win games”, he said.
A further headache for the manager is the impending loss of John Russell who picked up his fifth yellow card of the season. The Galway man sat out recent draws against Derry and Drogheda courtesy of a red card he was issued in the defeat to Shams in Tallaght last month.
He will serve a one game ban at the very least following Friday’s booking.
“That’s why we had to look at something different. It’s a bit of a disaster because John’s such a big player for us and not having him on the pitch will be disappointing.
“But we just have to work with what we have and get going and try to pick up as many points as possible in the next few weeks.”
The result sees Rovers drop to ninth, just two points ahead of basement side Finn Harps.
But Lyttle says his squad must continue to be positive and look up the table rather than over their shoulders.
A tough few days are in store this weekend with a trip to Dublin on Friday to face Pat’s while run- away leaders Cork visit the Showgrounds on Monday.
“We won’t feel sorry for ourselves”, Lyttle attains.
“We can’t and we won’t allow it here. We cannot accept that result tonight.
“I’ve put a demand on the players and they know how I operate by now and what I want from them. I expect better and it will get better.
“We don’t become a bad team overnight. We set targets against Limerick last week and they were met.
“This week they were dropped so we need to push those standards back up again and meet them against Pat’s and Cork.
“It’s a lesson learned so we now go again and prepare for the Pat’s game and try and have the boys ready for it.
“We want to win every game and that’s the mindset we want to have in the changing room. If we don’t win, we have to look to see why not.
“Boys will look at themselves after every game and maybe question have they done enough. Against Dundalk, they didn’t.”
The Rovers boss reminded that safety is the goal on the horizon but insists the long- term ambition is to bring the club back to the top.
He commanded: “I’m not coming to Sligo just to be safe. Obviously, the short term goal is to be safe but we want to be where Cork and Dundalk are.
“It’s a building process but for now it’s about getting points on the board.”
Rovers travel to Inchicore on Friday night to take on St. Patrick’s Athletic, before hosting Cork City at The Showgrounds on Monday evening.