One of the more impressive aspects of Shamrock Rovers’ European run is their ability to respond to setbacks.
But Jack Byrne is calling for perspective too, insisting the Hoops cannot afford to get cocky on the back of some decent results.
Rovers have been particularly good at home, beating Hibernians, Ludogorets, Shkupi and Ferencvaros before drawing with Djurgardens in last week’s group opener.
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Yet as admirable and confidence boosting as the unbeaten home record is, Rovers star Byrne feels it would be foolish to oversell those results.
Particularly so when Rovers were well beaten in the first-leg away to Ludogorets and Ferencvaros - and that away form against better sides remains their Achilles heel.
Byrne is back in action after four months of injury woe and, ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Belgian aces Gent, feels Rovers have plenty to improve on away from home.
“Europe does suit us the way we play as we’re a passing side but we’ve got a tough game tomorrow,” he said.
“This season, we haven’t really done well away from home against the better opposition in Europe.
“In Bulgaria (3-0) and Hungary (4-0) we got beaten and probably shot ourselves in the foot a little bit out there. We’ll be going into tomorrow’s game with that in mind.
“We’ve made mistakes and we need to rectify that and I’m sure we will because there are points up for grabs and it’s a massive game.”
