Lyttle finally seeing fruits of hard work as Rovers see off Shams in thriller

HE was left frustrated by refereeing decisions during Sunday evening’s 1-0 victory over Shamrock Rovers, but Sligo Rovers manager Gerard Lyttle was over the moon with his side’s performance.

The former Cliftonville boss is hopeful that this victory is a statement of intent from his side, who will now look to kick on and move further away from the danger zone.

“I’m absolutely thrilled,” he beamed. “It’s been coming, we’ve been saying that it’s been coming. It’s great to get it against one of your rivals on your home patch. I felt we deserved it, I thought we were the better team throughout even though we were down to ten men. We kept our shape, we were determined, it could have been 2-0 at the end with Tobi’s miss,” he said.

John Russell was dismissed early in the second half for his second yellow of the evening, and referee Neil Doyle handed out a further five yellow cards to Rovers players on the evening - in a game that was in no way dirty.

The Rovers boss was outraged about the John Russell red card, and felt Neil Doyle was somewhat heavy handed with his bookings. Although, it didn’t have much of an impact on Rovers’ performance.

“I thought the red card was very harsh. I felt the bookings were soft. John Russell’s been elbowed just before by one of their players and he got booked for it. The one he’s gone in for a free kick and some of the tackles that Shamrock Rovers players went into and they weren’t cautioned, it was poor. Some of the decisions were very poor and they were favourable on Shams’ side so I don’t feel we got the rub of the green in terms of the officials and in terms of the free-kicks.

“It didn’t harm us, we kept going and we were focusing on our game plan and we stuck to it,” he continued.

Despite a somewhat improved performance against Bohs at Dalymount Park the previous week, Rovers were still looking for their second win under Lyttle.

The performances were improving each week, but Lyttle was yet to see the work in training transferred to the pitch.

But now, Lyttle feels he is finally seeing the fruits of all the hard work put into training since his arrival.

“You’re coming and beating a team, who are probably one of the in-form teams at the minute, they’re in Europe and they’re flying the flag for the league and fair play to them. We’ve got to focus on ourselves now.

“I’ve spoke about how the win is coming and the harder you work, the more luck you get. Training has been excellent, I think you’ve seen that tonight.”

But he has warned that the work must continue if his side are to move up the table.

“We have got to kick on from here. It will get better. We can’t sit now, and think that we’ve won and we’re happy with it. We have got to be hungry for wins and we have to have that mentality and that belief.

“I think it shows the players that what we do on the training pitch can be transferred to a match day and it can work. That’s been transferred today. You might think I’m mad but I really thought we were unlucky last week to lose against Bohemians, looking at the stats, they were all in our favour. We’re on the up. We’ve got our rewards,” he added.

Lyttle feels that this victory, and his side’s impressive performance when reduced to ten men will show others that this side has something about them.

“It shows you that we have a wee bit about us. Our character, do we have any character, the boys showed there that we do. It’s great to see as a manager that character is there. If you have that in the changing room everything else will kick into place.”

There was somewhat of a coming together at the full-time whistle involving players and man- age- ment teams.

Gerard Lyttle apologised to his opposing manager Stephen Bradley after a bit of handbags between the two.

“It was me showing my emotion and I apologise. Their bench got a wee bit angry, I think one of the young lads came off and genuinely bumped into him and didn’t mean it.

Lyttle got so caught up in the moment that he forgot to shake hands with Bradley, causing the Hoops boss to react.

“It wasn’t poor sportsmanship on my behalf, it was pure excitement at winning a game of football. I haven’t gone over and shook Stephen’s hand. I forgot. I apologised to Stephen.”

The opposition players were understood to be none too pleased at an apparent lack of handshakes from Rovers players after the game.

“That’s up to the players, it’s a man’s game and if they choose to do that then they choose to do that. That’s not my character and I’m a good sportsman generally, win lose or draw I’ll shake anyone’s hand.

“I didn’t tonight through pure of both passion. He pushed me a bit and I got caught up in the moment and they were aggressive and we were aggressive and it’s forgotten about now. He accepted my apology.”

The man of the match on the night was undoubtedly Gary Boylan who was outstanding in the middle of midfield.

Having struggled to solidify a place in the starting eleven in previous years, through no fault of his own, he has been a crucial part of the team since Lyttle’s arrival.

His boss paid tribute to his performance, and said he believes he could be one of the best defensive midfielders in the league.

“I think it’s been very unfair on Gary in terms of previously, the positions he was playing in. He was playing at left back and centre back and right back, and centre mid, and he was getting pulled from pillar to post.

“I truly believe that he has potential to be one of the best defensive midfielders in the league. He has great balance, he has great feet, he’s a strong boy, he’s committed. We’re working on him now in terms of positional on the pitch. He’s not afraid to put in a tackle and he’s got a lot going for him. That’s where I see him playing.

“He was excellent tonight and he has been. I left him out a couple of weeks ago just to see what kind of reaction I got from him and the reaction I got was superb. That was a test on his behalf and he’s come up. He’s been brilliant. There’s been a lot of young lads starting to kick on.”

Lyttle also praised the efforts of goalkeeper Micheál Schlingermann who was excellent following a couple of difficult weeks.

“A special mention to Micheál as well, last couple of games he’s made a couple of mistakes and tonight he was a new man. There was no way he was letting anything in. Credit where credit is due, he came in for a bit of stick and I think this week he deserves applause.”

Rovers visit Maginn Park on Sunday to play Derry CIty, and they will finally have new signings Benny Igiehon and Rhys McCabe available, while Gary Armstrong too will be eligible following his loan spell with Ballinamallard.

John Russell will miss out, while Kieran Sadlier has departed for Cork City.

“It’s going to strengthen our hand. The three players who are coming in are quality and it’s going to push the rest of the boys. It will be a big loss losing John. I’m gutted for him and he’s gutted. He’s our captain and I thought tonight he was marvellous in terms of leadership and driving the boys on and that’s the negative of tonight is losing him, and potentially losing him for a couple of games.”

Former Swansea and Gillingham striker Rory Donnelly has been training with the Bit O’Red, as Gerard Lyttle looks to add to his squad further.