Fans have bought into Lyttle’s reign, but things have got to change soon
FINN Harps are one of the league’s dogged teams. The cliché ‘ tough place to go’ is rarely true for teams battle to avoid relegation, but Harps have made that applicable to themselves too.
Yet for Rovers, it doesn’t matter whether we’re at home or away, they seem to know what to do in order to not lose.
Harps are one of those teams Rovers have struggled against. Beat Dundalk? Grand. Beat Cork? No problem. Beat Harps? Nope.
We haven’t beaten Harps in the league since 2008. That’s nine years.
They did set out for a draw the other night, but Rovers didn’t exactly make it difficult for them.
Gerard Lyttle was right in his assessment. The football at times was horrendous, and that’s not how he wants his team to play.
The game was so uneventful that my notedpad only consisted of a few scribbles, not that I needed to look at notes to write out a match report.
Cretaro hitting the post was about as exciting as the game got.
We’re not blessed with attacking players, and with Liam Martin suspended and Daniel Kearns out, options are severely limited.
We know we need a few signings in the window. It doesn’t take a genius to work it out, and Lyttle has been very vocal about it.
He got a lot of praise for his honest post- match interview on Friday night.
Fans really buy into a manager who can assess a game so honestly.
It’s been difficult for him and he knows he has a huge job on his hands but I firmly believe he’s the right man for the job.
His transfer window dealings will tell a big tale, and he knows that he has to get it right if we are to avoid relegation.
The mid- season break is upon us and Rovers are still in the relegation zone.
Fans are not panicking too much yet, because you have to give a new manager time.
At the minute it’s easy to blame the previous regime for our position and predicament right now, but something has got to change soon.
Every time we look to have turned a corner, beating Bray Wanderers 3- 2, then losing to Finn Harps away the next week was one time.
Beating Limerick 3- 0 and then getting hammered by Dundalk. Then drawing with Bray and somehow not beating Finn Harps.
It’s the inconsistency that could kill us. The squad is limited but we have seen glimpses that give us hope, and maybe the mid- season break will be of use to some of the players.
Friday night wasn’t good enough, but they’ll know that. It is a relief that things have tidied up defensively, to some extent.
Shipping goals earlier in the season was a major concern but now that it’s settled a bit, our defence has looked a whole lot more solid.
Galway is a must win game after the mid- season break and anything less is simply not acceptable.