Shamrock Rovers Head Coach Stephen Bradley praised his side’s performance in their emphartic 5-0 victory over Bray Wanderers at the Tallaght Stadium. “We were very good. We had to be patient when they went down to ten men. We moved the ball well. Th
Shamrock Rovers Head Coach Stephen Bradley praised his side’s performance in their emphartic 5-0 victory over Bray Wanderers at the Tallaght Stadium.
“We were very good. We had to be patient when they went down to ten men. We moved the ball well. They got tired and we finished them off.”
As usual, sides have to adjust when a red card is brandished as it was to Wanderers’ defender Conor Kenna, before some of the attendance had taken their seats. “Sometimes you’d rather if it was eleven because it’s more of a game, more spaces open up. Obviously, when they went down to ten, they had to sit off and made it difficult for us but we knew if we kept moving, it would open for us.”
Bradley was delighted with the showing of Graham Burke on his return from international duty. “He was excellent again. His quality is there for everyone to see. He’s ruthless in the final third - he’s scoring goals.” The first of Burke’s brace was a penalty conversion after Kenna’s dismissal.
Hoops boss was not necessarily too perturbed that Rovers failed to add to their tally up to half –time. “The first- half was good, other than the last ten minutes when we got a bit sloppy and allowed them back in the game. We knew they would open up. We just had to keep working them. Second half we got our rewards.”
Those rewards came in the form of another cool Burke finish and goals for Sam Bone, Dan Carr and David McAllister. Bradley commended all three.
“Sam can strike with left or right foot. It was a really good goal because he cut across it with his foot.”
“Great for Dan. We were worried last week when he had to come off. We thought we’d miss him for a month. But he recovered very well and worked hard. His all round game was excellent.”
“Good for Davie. He’s been out of the team but he’s been a good professional and worked hard. He obviously scored a good goal.”
Bradley gave 16 year old Gavin Bazunu a start in goal. “He’s very, very young. You don’t want to damage the kid, hurt his development. But he’s mentally ready. He’s physically ready. Gavin seemed ready to go.”
In advance, Bradley identified six points from the Bray match and next week’s away encounter in Limerick as paramount. “That was our target – win the two games and we jump two positions in the league. We’ve jumped one tonight. We need to win next week obviously – we jump another one. We come back from the break in a good position.”
