‘ I want Sligo Rovers to have an identity’ - Gerard Lyttle
GERARD Lyttle wants to give his Sligo Rovers side an ‘ identity’ during his time as manager of the club.
Speaking after Friday night’s 1- 1 draw with St. Patrick’s Athletic, Lyttle said he wants to implement a distinctive style of play, something that the club has been missing for quite some time.
“I want Sligo Rovers to have an identity. I don’t feel we have an identity, what we’re about and how we play and how we go about our business, and when a team comes to play against us they know they’re playing against a Sligo Rovers team. That’s going to be my job and the coaching staff that we have in place.”
The former Cliftonville manager was left disappointed that his side didn’t pick up all three points on the night, having initially gone behind in the first- half. Rovers fought back strongly and could have nicked a win in the end.
“There were big positives from the game for us. We’re very disappointed, it feels like a loss for the boys in the dressing room. They’re gutted they’ve come away with just one point and not three. But that shows that we have something about us and something to build on.
“There’s a lot of great positives tonight. The second half performance I thought was superb from us. We looked really energetic, we wanted to win the game and we tried to win the game. We were attacking in their ten yard box at every opportunity and we were trying our best and moved the ball really well.”
The Bit o’Red refused to give up, despite going behind, and got their just rewards in the end, although a win would have been deserved. Many have felt that Rovers have lacked leaders throughout the season, and Lyttle was satisfied with the strength in character and leadership his players displayed.
“The Sligo of old probably would have ( wilted). You saw last week when we went 1- 0 down to the champions our heads dropped. We spoke before the game that if we concede, I want to see characters and I want to see leaders to get us lifted and tonight I saw a lot of leaders.”
Rovers were done to the bare bones on Friday night due to a number of injuries and Matty Stevens’ return to Peterborough.
“We’re now in a period where we’re looking to try and suss out where we need to strengthen and where we need to add and obviously I just don’t see Matty, being part of our plans. I just felt it was right to send him back to Peterborough, and not give him any false hope at Sligo Rovers.
“Both Raff and Roddan were carrying niggles, the two of them offered to go on the bench and if needed, to play, they were willing to do that. It shows again that there’s good character about us. Luckily enough we didn’t have to use them and it gives them an extra couple of days to recover,” said the Rovers boss.
There was praise, too, for the Rovers defence. Regan Donelon, in particular, saved Rovers’ blushes a number of times towards the latter stages of the game.
“That’s his job, I expect that from Regan and I expect that from the back four. I want my defenders to put their bodies on the line if they have to and they did that tonight. It shows, that character and commitment, I thought the whole back four and the keeper as well. Really proud of the players in terms of their performance and work rate.”
Mikey Place started his first league game of the season, and U19s player Martin Walsh was a second- half substitute. Difficult circumstances for two young players, but Lyttle is adamant that he will work to develop young players at Rovers in order to bring them into the senior team as regulars.
“I’ll give youth a chance if they’re good enough. They’ll be put on and they’ll play. Young Martin, I watched the 19s play and he was the one who stood out and caught my eye. He was on the bench last week and tonight and on another night he could have had a chance.
“I think that’s what Sligo Rovers has to be about. We have to develop our own players. To bring players over from England and Scotland and to develop them from other teams, I don’t see the sense in that. We’ll obviously bring one or two players in and they could be young players but they’d have to be better than what our young lads are.”
The summer transfer window will be crucial for Rovers if they are to move into the top half of the table and with a small squad, a couple of bodies are undoubtedly required to get out of the relegation battle. Lyttle has already identified areas where Rovers need to add, and has been working on recruitment since joining.
“I’ve been looking at recruitment since I signed by contract with Sligo Rovers. I’ve identified what we need to strengthen in. We’re working on it at the moment but we’re not going to jump in and just bring players in for the sake of bringing them in. We’re going to profile them and see if they’re the right fit for Sligo Rovers.
We need to work on a lot of areas. In terms of the players, it’s quite obvious we need a striker. We need a bit of experience in the team, we’ll look at that as well and hopefully come July we’ll have one or two fresh faces coming in.”
Although there’s a lot of hard work yet to be done, Lyttle is enjoying his time so far as the new face at the helm of Sligo Rovers.
“I’ve been loving it. I’ve enjoyed working with the boys. They’ve been superb. Don’t get me wrong there’s a lot of hard work ahead and we know that as a group. I think I’ve the right group that’s willing to do that, they’ve certainly got the right manager who’s going to work for the club.
“Hopefully we can get Sligo Rovers out of the bottom half and into the top half short term and build from that.”