Attention now turns to Finn Harps after Irn Bru cup defeat
HAVING suffered defeat at the hands of Scottish Championship side Falkirk Bairns in the second round of the Irn Bru Scottish Challenge Cup, Gerard Lyttle says he can turn his attention to the upcoming league game against Finn Harps, in a relegation six pointer. ALTHOUGH it would have been nice to win the game, Lyttle admits that it’s not the end of the world.
What was most important on Saturday night was keeping players ticking over as Rovers face a huge meeting with Finn Harps on Saturday week.
“IT was positive in terms of getting a run out. I don’t think we’ll not have had a league game for four weeks since Cork so to play against a top team like Falkirk I thought we held our own,” Lyttle said afterwards. “CERTAINLY the second half was a lot better than the first half in terms of possession. We spoke about a couple of things at half time that we needed to look at, switching our play a lot quicker, we were a wee bit slow at the back. We adjusted a couple of things and we got players on the pitch and we obviously had one eye on the Finn Harps game in terms of personnel. We looked at one or two things. It was good to be able to do that against good opposition. “NOT the ideal result but we probably drew the hardest team in the cup, a top team with top players and they’re going through a blip at the minute in the league but I’m sure they will get a lot better,” added the former Cliftonville boss.
Rovers were probably somewhat unfortunate to be drawn against a top quality side like Falkirk.
Bray Wanderers were drawn away against Elgin City, but their defeat at the hands of the Scottish League Two did little for the Irish clubs’ cause.
While disappointed with the result, Lyttle was pleased that his side put it up to their Scottish counterparts.
“It wasn’t the ideal draw. We wanted a so-called easier team or a team in the lower leagues, to obviously get a wee run and a wee trip. It wasn’t to be. We got the toughest team out of them all. We’ve run them close. I don’t think they were miles ahead of us. The two goals they scored could have been prevented.
“One, you can’t legislate for the first goal, it was a slip from big Sharkey, apart from that I don’t think we overly threatened their goal and I don’t think they overly threatened our goal. In terms of the play, I felt we just edged it in terms of possession.”
The timing of the game meant that it was not a distraction for the Bit O’Red during a busy time in their league campaign.
But, should they have gone on another round, the next game would have taken place on the same weekend as Rovers are due to host Bohemian FC.
“If we had a game next week or the week before you’d look at it as that but it hasn’t been a distraction. It’s worked in our favour that we were able to get a game like Falkirk.
“We’ve been looking for a game next week we have potentially two games, in the UK all the teams have started their campaigns and trying to get a team from the North to come and play, it’s impossible. It was a good work out. The boys will get a lot out of that. The focus is back on the league campaign and we’ve a massive September ahead,” he said.
And Lyttle admitted that further down the line the cup could have been a distraction when the club’s focus is merely on survival.
“It could have been a distraction. It isn’t a distraction now because we needed that game but possibly if you go through here, you’re starting to adjust games and it’s coming to the important part of the season. It’s not the be all and the end all. We’d have liked to win, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not going to lose too much sleep over not winning. The focus was on our performance.”
With four weeks without a league game, though, Lyttle concedes that it can be difficult to remained focused when there is such a long period without a league game.
“You’re trying to keep the boys occupied, and trying to get them ticking over and on top of their fitness. It’s not ideal that there’s four weeks without a game. It’s trying to manage it as best we can. The game has helped us out today. We have a game against Athlone on Saturday where we’ll try a couple of things out so that’s the best we can do with it. In two weeks time hopefully we will be ready.”
Rovers’ goal on Saturday night came from a Regan Donelon corner which was headed in by Seamus Sharkey.
Since Ger Lyttle’s arrival, there has been a noticeable improvement in Rovers’ set-pieces.
“It’s something that I’ve done since I’ve come in. It’s possibly the seventh or eighth set piece that we’ve scored from. I think we’ve put a bit of time and effort into stuff like that. We had to.
“At the start when I came in we did, there was a reason, we didn’t have the strike-force to score goals. It’s a good threat we have. We’ll continue to work at that.”
With four players suspended for the trip to Finn Harps, Lyttle says it is crucial to give some of those players game time to keep their fitness levels up.
Rovers take on Athlone Town on Saturday afternoon in a friendly, and that game will be used by Lyttle as a chance to try out a couple of things.
“You’re juggling tonight because Raff is going to be out and you’re trying to keep him ticking over, Craig is going to be out for another two games, so it’s important that we kept him ticking over. Athlone game we will be focusing more on the Finn Harps game, personnel wise, formation wise. It’s an opportunity to test a few things.”
Micheál Schlingermann sat out Saturday’s game with a slight injury, but Lyttle says he is expected to be fit for Finn Harps.
“He hasn’t trained all week to be honest. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious. It’s just more of a muscular pain and strain around his neck and shoulder.
“That’s typical goalkeepers now, they don’t make them the way they used to, they’re soft,” he joked.