‘We’d like to thank Brandon Miele for his comments’
SLIGO Rovers manager Ger Lyttle thanked Shamrock Rovers’ Brandon Miele for his comments prior to the two sides meeting on Friday night, and said he helped spur them on.
Speaking to the Irish Sun on Friday, Brandon Miele said: “I remember their manager going into our manager’s face and their players going into our players’ faces like they’d won the league.
“Hopefully we beat them and send them back to Sligo and that will be that — three points on the board for us and they’ll still be fighting relegation.”
Lyttle was less than impressed with the comments made by the Dubliner.
“I’d like to thank him for it. It drove us on. I thought it was very unprofessional how he spoke and what he said, and whether it’s come from him or the changing room or the club it’s poor on their behalf and it gave us a great motivational team talk and I’d like to thank him for it, because the boys weren’t too happy and we weren’t happy,” he said afterwards.
Although the Bit O’Red were under pressure for a bulk of the first half, but Ger Lyttle’s second half substitutions turned the game around.
“It’s a brilliant point. At half-time we would have taken it. There was a few harsh words spoken. I thought in the first half we actually started well in possession but when we didn’t have it we allowed them too much time. Obviously they were able to build a wee bit of momentum and pick passes out freely and we weren’t closing down, but we changed it with a tactical change at half time and brought on Greg Moorhouse and got us higher up the pitch. We started with a better line and I thought second half we were fantastic.”
Lyttle praised the influence of his bench, with both Jamie McDonagh and Greg Moorhouse having a huge impact on the game.
“The bench, especially at this stage of the season it’s crucial that you have options coming from it. We thought about starting Jamie and we thought about starting Greg Moorhouse but I thought the boys had earned their starting positions from last week’s performance, they made such a difference.
“Jamie gave us that indirect- ness at the back four and putting crosses in and getting shots, he’s dangerous.
“Greg Moorhouse is stretching the back four as well, his pace is frightening and he’s decent in the air and the only thing he’s missing is that goal and hopefully it’s going to come sooner rather than later.”
Jack Keaney gave way at halftime for the influential Moorhouse, but Lyttle insisted it was tactical and not about his performance.
“Jack was absolutely nothing to do with his performance. It was a tactical change, he felt hard done by but we spoke to him and we needed to try and get two up top and go for the win, or the goal, and I just thought the three in there we weren’t hurting them. We took young Jack off and probably went with a bit of experience with Rhys and Craig in there and put Moorhouse up top and locked on and pressed them a lot higher in the second half to force them into mistakes, it worked in our favour. It’s a valuable point.”
Donelon’s tackle last week ensured Rovers came away with three points against Bohs, and his excellent free-kick earned Rovers a valuable point on Friday night.
He is one player who Lyttle has been impressed by since joining.
“He’s been sensational. He was struggling at the end there for the last ten minutes with tight calves and hamstrings but he’s been brilliant.
“He made a last ditch tackle last week and he’s popped up with a worldie goal, it’s his first league goal, if he can top that he’ll be doing well. In the end we probably could have won the game, we’ve hit the post albeit they’ve hit the bar twice and great saves from Shaun Patton to tip it on but in the end we’ve hit the bar and Vinny’s header and we probably could have walked away with three points but we’ll take the point. Not many teams come here and salvage a point.”
The former Cliftonville boss says his side will be targeting six points from their last two games.
“We came here with a target as well for three points, in my opinion we’re in fine form, take out the Galway game, we were poor. It probably came at a good time because we re-evaluated things, we sat down and watched the game over and its worked in our favour because after that, Bohs last week, we were fantastic. I thought in the second half we were a lot better, it will stand us in good stead going into the last two games.”
And he too is of the opinion that this relegation battle will go down to the bitter end.
“I always thought it would to be honest with you. It’s so tight, all the teams are picking up points. It’s important that we kept our noses in front because this is a tricky place to come and get points, and to come away with one point and keeping our nose in front of Galway and on the coattails of Pats, we’ll just focus on ourselves. We have a massive game next week against Derry, I urge every fan in Sligo to come and get behind us and drive us on because when the supporters get behind us it gives the players such a lift, they’ve been brilliant. Just continue to help us get over the line.”
Rovers play host to Derry City on Saturday night, a race night will follow as a fundraiser for the club.