A vital win, but we must keep the results coming!

HE has lead Sligo Rovers to a number of crucial wins in close to the one year he has been at the helm, but Ger Lyttle’s reaction post final whistle in Limerick on Saturday was the most animated he has been since his arrival.

There was the unexpected victory in Turner’s Cross, the last minute win at Finn Park, the home win over Bohs and the relief of the final day in Drogheda.

But Ger’s jump over the perimeter in to the away fans at the end of the weekend’s vital win at the Markets Field seemed to matter to him that bit more.

There were some brave but necessary changes on his behalf. If Limerick had managed to smuggle a second, we would be talking in a difference tone. But a win, means those changes paid off.

Sacrificing width in order to give Jack Keaney and Eduardo Pinceli a chance in the midfield diamond, Ger also gave Regan Donelon his first start of 2018, dropping what I thought was the unfortunate Calum Waters.

While Mitchell Beeney rounded off what was a narrower Rovers approach from the disaster that was the Derry game.

The game itself wasn’t the most entertaining. Rovers were the deserved victors, but it all happened in fits and starts.

Squeezing the play into the middle of the field again left Adam Morgan stranded on his own, without supply once again. But needs must and this time, it just about, paid off.

Pinceli’s plans didn’t always come to fruition but his insistence on trying to make things happen made a difference.

Keaney, who has experience of playing in high pressure games despite his age, was brave in all he did and can be happy with what was just his seventh appearance for the Bit O’Red.

Rhys McCabe reacted quickest to dumbfound former Sligo net minder Brendan Clarke with an audacious 60-yarder before Greg Moorhouse, in his twentieth appearance, finally netted his first for the club.

As effectively our second striker, these are the kind of games Greg must chip in more often.

More of the same in the coming weeks please.

Beeney struggled under crosses and his inability to cope with a ball from Rovers’ left side lead to Daniel Kearns’ (who else?) first goal for the Shannonsiders.

Credit to Rovers though who held out. A draw would have been demoralising while to recover a five point gap had we lost would have been ominous and would only have added to the limited chorus of supporters who want change on the bench.

No wonder Ger was leaping over fences at the final whistle!

Rovers’ squad was reduced by one last week when former club captain Craig Roddan was released by the club.

Of the total of his 64 games between 2016 and the Dundalk game last month, not many were stand out. His first few months under Dave Robertson were average before they fell to well below that.

Associated with the ‘odd’ booking (an average of just under one every three games), the 24-yearold soon fell in the pecking order and was stripped of the captaincy unde Lyttle who made no secret of his feelings on Roddan shortly after his arrival.

The odd day things worked out for him, he was superb.

McCabe may have found the winner in last year’s famous win in Cork. But the points wouldn’t have been as safe if it wasn’t for Craig’s dominance of the Cork midfield and his sheer tenacity in everything he did.

He was wholly unfortunate to see a second yellow when a Cork player tripped over him.

There were impressive displays against Shams and Dundalk in the Showgrounds also in previous seasons. But those days were far too few and far between.

Also a word this week for the FAI’s disciplinary committee, who saw fit to ban Rovers assistant Kevin Deery for three games after some not so kind words were exchanged between him and the Shams bench during our recent game in Tallaght.

These sort of incidents crop up every week and although bans are common, anything over one game is extremely harsh.

The same committee handed Cork manager John Caulfield just the one game ban for coming on to the pitch and instigating a ruckus that saw himself and five others sent to the stand in the RSC.

Notably, by referee Rob Rodgers. The same official who deemed it acceptable to shove his head in Lyttle’s face when the Rovers boss pointed out a mistake his colleague Neil Doyle had made in the lead up to the only goal of our recent defeat to Shams.

Maybe Ger had a valid point about the ‘top’ clubs getting all the decisions? Or maybe this is delayed retribution for Ger’s comments following the Shamrock Rovers game?