Tim Clancy has warned his St Patrick’s Athletic side that they need to sharpen up at both ends of the pitch - ahead of a “tough” clash with champions Shamrock Rovers on Friday.
Monday’s derby defeat away to Bohemians was their second loss in three days. And it was particularly hard to take for boss Clancy, as Stephen Mallon’s winner came from a defensive error by Northern Ireland Under-21 right-back Jack Scott.
He let a long James Talbot clearance bounce over his head and was beaten to the ball by the Bohs attacker, who beat goalkeeper Joseph Anang from the edge of the area.
Clancy said: “It's tough but when we're conceding the goals that we're conceding at the minute, it's making things a hell of a lot tougher than what they should be. It's nowhere near good enough, the goals that we're conceding.
"Teams are opening us up. If they're scoring really quality goals against us, you sort of have to hold your hands up. But the goals we're conceding are all avoidable and it's something that we'll address in the coming days.”
Addressing Monday night’s match-winner, he said: “It's just, go and deal with the ball, simple as that, go and deal with it.
“It's one of the most basic things in football, don't allow the ball to bounce, don't question yourself, just go and deal with it. It's something that shouldn't happen and we'll make sure that it won't happen again.”
Pat’s struggled all night to create goal opportunities of their own. Tunde Owolabi had the ball in the net after three minutes but was ruled to be offside.
And the former Finn Harps man tested Talbot 10 minutes later from distance - one of the few times the Bohs netminder was called into action on Monday night.
“We created very little,” acknowledged Clancy. “[We had] a few good opportunities in areas where we never really troubled their 'keeper at all.
“Of course, we could have created more. It's something we did against Sligo and Shels and Shamrock Rovers [in the President’s Cup] as well. The disappointing part tonight was not creating enough in the attacking end of the pitch.
“But when you're conceding goals like that, it puts a hell of a lot of pressure on you, you have to get things absolutely right. Frustrating, disappointing, but we can't feel sorry for ourselves, we've got to crack on now.”
Darragh Burns was introduced in the second-half on Monday and his presence livened up the Pat’s attack.
Clancy is eager to manage the 19-year-old’s workload during a busy start to the season - but he could well throw the winger back into the starting XI against Rovers on Friday.
“He's very good and he's dangerous, but we've also got other very good players. Tunde [Owolabi] came on and scored a good goal against Sligo.
“Jay McClelland came on and scored against Shels, so we've other good players in attacking areas. It's about managing players and managing minutes as best we can.
“Darragh, when he came on, we were hoping we would be still in the game and not behind in the game, and that the game would have opened up a bit and given Darragh a lot more space to be direct and carry the ball. Unfortunately, we didn't get it to him in the right areas.”
Looking ahead to the visit of Rovers on Friday, he added: “We know it's gonna be a tough game, that's what we're going to prepare for.”
