Bradley calls on 'brilliant' fans to stick by Shamrock Rovers

Roberto Lopes during a Shamrock Rovers training session. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Stephen Bradley and his Shamrock Rovers players are not used to weeks like this, where devastating back-to-back defeats in Europe and the FAI Cup hit hard and saw fingers being pointed at them.

But such is the price of success.

Having set a high bar over the years, tripping up in that manner will always set tongues wagging and particularly so after such an embarrassing 5-1 drubbing in Albania last Thursday, before then relinquishing their FAI Cup crown by blowing a 2-0 lead at St Pat’s on Sunday.

Football loves a ‘crisis’ and this is about as close to one as Rovers have got in quite some time. But Bradley won’t fret as his team prepares to enter the last chance saloon - in Europe at least - tonight.

The Hoops host the Finnish champions KuPS, with the winner over two legs progressing to the league phase of the Conference League, banking at least €4 million for their efforts.

The losers will have reached the end of the road and, just like Rovers, KuPS arrive at this point having gone through two rounds of the Champions League qualifiers and one in the Europa League.

Last week, a shell-shocked Bradley was left reflecting on the “worst performance” he had seen in his 10 years as manager after getting trounced by Egnatia. 

Leading 3-1 from the first leg in Tallaght - when they should have won by more - Rovers imploded and were 4-0 down by half-time before eventually going out 6-4 on aggregate.

But although Sunday’s defeat to St Pat’s was just as sobering, Bradley feels the performance at Richmond Park was a positive response to what materialised in Albania and he is urging Shamrock Rovers fans to stick by the team at Tallaght Stadium tonight.

“Our fans have been brilliant,” said Bradley yesterday. “They can get frustrated or angry when we lose games and that’s totally understandable. But the fans have been absolutely brilliant for us and I’ve no doubt they’ll bring that tonight. It’s so important for us.

“KuPS are a good team. I’m sure they’ll feel they should have gone through in their last Europa League round. They were very good and have got real threats in their team, good speed. Tactically they’re good which is the case with most Scandinavian teams. So we know it’s a tough game and a pretty even tie between us.” 

Rovers’ issues in Europe have been on the road, losing all three away games this summer in Albania, Armenia and Malta. But they won each of the home legs, scoring 10 goals and passing up other chances. Bradley added: “I genuinely believe our last three home performances have been (up with) the best we’ve had here, ever.” 

If Rovers get back into stride and start quickly tonight, they can overcome the trauma of the past week. But they have shown this summer that they don’t defend well on their European travels, so a cushion is badly needed heading for Finland next week.

Graham Burke, Jake Mulraney and Matt Healy all return having sat out the St Pat’s defeat but John McGovern, Danny Grant, Dan Cleary and Victor Ozhianvuna are still injured.