Lyttle turns focus to catching Bohemians and Derry City following victory over Cork
GER Lyttle has repeated the call to his players not to rest on what’s gone before.
Rovers’ win over Cork on Friday saw the gap between themselves and Limerick, who occupy the promotion/relegation play-off spot, extended to eleven points.
The win moved Rovers to within two points of seventh placed Bohemians and four off Derry City who sit just above the Gypsies.
Lyttle, who masterminded Rovers’ eighth league win on the road this season, wants his side to look up the table and try and catch the teams chasing the top four.
“I won’t allow complacency within the group because we are trying to build a winning mentality here”, he commanded.
“If you start taking your foot off the gas and ease up in training then that for me is pointless and you’re cheating the fans as well.
”We want to continue to work hard and win as many games as we can. That’s the message to our boys every day.”
“The players were out on their feet tonight and cramping up, they were working that hard. We’re not even thinking of safety, we’re looking up now.
Our target is to catch the teams above us.
“If you win three games in this league, you’re nearly challenging for Europe and that’s how tight it is.
“We’ll enjoy tonight, beating the champions and showing that character but we want to keep on building.”
When asked if the recent pressure he had felt following poor results prior to the Limerick and Cork games had been taken off him, he replied: “It’s part of the game, I expect the pressure that comes with losing games.
“I’ve said it before, I’ll not shy away from any criticism I get. I stand with my belief that we have the players here who are able to reach targets for us.
“We’re not far away from where we want to be if we can build on what we have a keep moving forward, then the future is bright.”
On the game itself, Lyttle suggested the spotlight was on Cork to try and cut the gap between themselves and leaders Dundalk, more than it was on his own team to pull away from the bottom.
“We didn’t deserve to be one nil down I don’t think. The message at half-time was to stay in the game and keep it at one nil for as long as possible. I think Cork would have been more nervous and panicky than we were. It was pretty much a must win game for them tonight.
”We told our boys to go out and enjoy the game. But I thought we played all the football tonight. We had some really good attacking play and in the end we deserved the victory.”
Tactical adjustments were key to Rovers’ tenth league victory of the year. At risk of seeing red, the previously booked Kyle Callan-MacFadden was withdrawn at the break while substitutes Raffaele Cretaro and Caolan McAleer were responsible for what was Rovers’ winner.
Of the McFadden switch, Ger says: “It was a tactical move too. He’s not a natural right back and we thought at one nil, with Kyle booked and the way our luck has been going, if we go down to ten then we’d probably get nothing. That was the first thinking.
“The second was to allow Jack Keaney get out to right back and allow him attack from there and be braver. And that worked.
“We were really pleased with our changes. Obviously there’s a few boys disappointed not to get on. We were thinking about putting Lewis Morrison on before Raff scored, because he can play in those pockets between the lines.
McAleer replaced Mikey Drennan in time to tee up Cretaro for the winner. Lyttle acknowledged the Kilkenny man’s work rate throughout, commenting: “I thought it was very lonely at times up there for Mikey. He was fighting for scraps and sometimes we opted for the easy option and fired balls up to him.
“(Damien) Delaney and (Aaron) Barry were just eating them up and I think it just wasn’t fair on Mikey. He worked his socks off and he played his part because he’s stretched and tired them.”
“Raff gave us something different then because he can drop in and ask questions, hold the ball up and get flicks on. The two centre halves didn’t know whether to stick or twist when he came in.”
Friday’s result was Cork’s first home defeat in domestic competition since Rovers beat them twelve months ago. Pressed on the Leesider’s Sligo hoodoo, even Lyttle suggested the answer was quite simple.
“I think it’s down to us playing well really.
“But a few weeks ago it might have just been down to us not getting the breaks.
“They’re direct and that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with that.
“We talked all week about Cork getting the ball forward early on. They play a lot of straight passes down the middle and depend on Cummins.
“Again, tonight we’ve maybe seen our luck change in terms of those breaks going for us.”
The Belfast man had kind words for his central defensive pair Patrick McClean and John Mahon, both of whom played a starring roles in shutting City out in the second half.
“John was different class and Patrick just seems to get better and better every week.
“He’s turning into a real leader for us. It’s probably wrong though to single out two players as I thought we were really good as a team.
“We stuck together and that’s crucial.”