Sligo Rovers boss Liam Buckley saw his side go seven unbeaten, and up to sixth in the league, thanks to a smash and grab 2-1 victory at Dalymount Park. Romeo Parkes netted twice against Bohs, including a last minute winner against third place Gypsie
Sligo Rovers boss Liam Buckley saw his side go seven unbeaten, and up to sixth in the league, thanks to a smash and grab 2-1 victory at Dalymount Park.
Romeo Parkes netted twice against Bohs, including a last minute winner against third place Gypsies, who lost their skipper Derek Pender to a straight red card with the game poised at 1-1. And the Rovers boss was understandably delighted to come away with all three points.
“We’ve had to dig in tonight, they passed it really well and had a couple of chances the second half but all credit to the players who worked extremely hard and to Romeo (Parkes) who had a lot for work to do for both of his goals.
“It seemed an eternity for the second one to go in, when he turned on his left I screamed shoot, then on his right and then took another touch and another but deserved his goals in the end. So look, absolutely delighted with the three points as we had to hang in there at times, put in a serious shift and pulled two goals out of the bag.”
Not getting ahead of himself, following this excellent run of form and having a game in hand on teams ahead, the Rovers boss went on to say that there’s a long way to go for his group.
“We’re not quite the finished article by any stretch of the imagination. There’s still a lot more to come from this group, I’d like us to keep the ball better, move it quicker – similar to what Bohs were doing at times – but I can’t fault the players one bit, their effort has been outstanding so far. We’re a work in progress but it’s only halfway through the season so there’s more to come I feel.”
The first half was an almost surreal affair with the game failing to get into full flow following some lengthy stoppages.
18 minutes injury time was added on to the end of the first half due to both sides losing crucial players.
Bohs lost talisman Dinny Corcoran to a nasty looking ankle injury after just eight minutes, and just after the restart Dante Leverock clashed with keeper Ed McGinty resulting in the big centre back requiring a lengthy spell of treatment.
“Yeah he (Leverock) was knocked out after the collision, but some good news is that he has come around and we’ll double check on him again shortly, he’s been taken off to the hospital to be safe.
"We’ve also lost John Dunleavy and Regan Donelon to knocks so I was almost about to get my boots back on! But we’ll monitor it over the next couple of days and see how serious they are.“