Liam Buckley has little time for sentiment as he prepares his Sligo Rovers team for an Easter weekend on the road. The Bit O’Red boss will return to Inchicore for the first time this Friday as his Rovers side take on his former club St Patrick’s Ath
Liam Buckley has little time for sentiment as he prepares his Sligo Rovers team for an Easter weekend on the road.
The Bit O’Red boss will return to Inchicore for the first time this Friday as his Rovers side take on his former club St Patrick’s Athletic.
While Sligo are back on the trail Monday, with an arduous journey south to Cork to take on the Rebels.
Still a fans’ favourite at Richmond Park, Buckley enjoyed two successful spells in the dugout in Dublin 8.
But he is keen to focus only on what’s on offer to his current employers and not dwell on past glories.
“Every game is massive from our point of view, not just Friday”, he said.
“We want to be in a better position than where we are now. Games against Pat’s and Cork will be tight and we just need to make sure that if there’s a break, then we get it.”
Buckley’s start as Rovers boss has not gone exactly the way he would have liked.
They’ve been beaten in five of their opening ten games but a recent win over Dundalk at the Showgrounds has shown what the 2012 league champions can do.
Buckley knows how important the next round of fixtures is and how his club needs to keep up with the chasing pack.
“I was disappointed with the start of the season”, he admitted.
“We didn’t pick up enough points. But the last few games have been better.
“Outside the top two or three teams there’s very little between the next group.
“There’s not that much between the likes of ourselves, Bohs, Pat’s, Derry, Cork and UCD. We just have to mix it in with those teams to make sure we stay about them.
“We’ll play all these teams in the next month or two so we have to knuckle down and get our fair share of points.”
Rovers’ latest result saw them play out a scoreless draw with Waterford on Monday.
Both sides did create chances with Sligo’s top scorer Romeo Parkes going close late on. But Buckley felt a point a piece was justified.
“A draw was probably a fair result”, he commented.
“They did try and pass it a bit better than we did but we had one or two chances.
“Romeo had a decent chance but in the end a draw was probably fair.”
Rovers will travel over 1000 kilometres in the coming days for games in both cities.
An aspect of life as a professional football, which everyone has to live with says Buckley.
“I did feel there was a bit of fatigue in one or two of our lads.
“But we have to get on with it. We’ve got a heavy schedule ahead of us now travelling to Dublin and then Cork. It’s important with a tight squad like ours that we go into these games as healthy as we can.”
