Stephen Bradley: 'We don’t pin things like quotes on walls of the dressing-room for motivation'

Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley. Pic: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

Shamrock Rovers will need to win away in Europe for the first time this season to confirm their place in Friday’s Conference League draw for the third year in a row.

A late concession to KuPS in last week’s drawn first leg at Tallaght puts the Irish champions in a situation whereby they must prevail on the artificial Kuopion Keskuskenttä pitch in Helsinki on Thursday (4pm, Irish time).

That could be over 90 or 120 minutes, penalties if neither separate them, but only doable if their record on foreign soil is overturned.

Defeats in the legs away to Floriana, Ararat-Armenia and Egnatia saw Stephen Bradley’s side ship nine goals. Another against the Finnish champions would likely finish their European campaign.

The Rovers manager is aware of ‘noise’ circling his camp on the back of three winless games that included their FAI Cup defence faltering at the first hurdle against a St Patrick’s Athletic side also chasing them at the summit of the league.

“We’re here to be shot at,” said the man whose team are four points clear, in pursuit of their fifth title in six years.

“I’ve been in a lot of top-class environments across different codes in the last two or three years.

"Getting to the top of the game is hard but staying there is extremely hard.

“Rival fans enjoy when we lose and that’s natural but we don’t pin things like quotes on walls of the dressing-room for motivation.

“There’s been lazy assessments of things and flippant comments that go with it but you can’t react to a result with an emotional decision. That’s not sustainable because there’s no growth in that.

“We’ve had some of our best performances for years in Europe this season but basic errors have cost us.” 

Danny Mandroiu, who was inches from marking his return from his ACL injury with a goal to make it 2-0 last week, is out with a hamstring injury. 

He, along with Danny Grant, were in London over the last couple of days to visit a renowned medical specialist.

Otherwise, Dan Cleary and John McGovern have recovered from injuries to travel but are looking towards Sunday’s trip to Derry City for involvement.

“We moved the ball well last week but were disappointed not to create many clearcut chances,” admitted attacker Graham Burke. “We’re well capable of getting that away win as we know where to hurt the opposition.”