Sligo players applaud the fansGerard Lyttle believed that his Sligo Rovers side, despite having to play with 10-men for over half an hour, were full value for their 1-0 win over Shamrock Rovers on Sunday evening.
The Hoops, who were in Europa League action in Iceland on Thursday night, never really looked like breaking down the bit o’red rear-guard.
New Sligo signing Seamus Sharkey made his debut and Lyttle was full of praise for him after the game, “Seamus had a great debut and has give me an awful headache for next week, because Kyle (Callan McFadden), who missed the game through suspension, has been outstanding since I’ve took over also. It’s a nice problem to have though.”
On the game itself Lyttle said, “I thought from the off we went about our business really well. We had a real hunger and desire to win. John Russell played like a captain, drove us on got the goal and in my opinion should never been sent off.”
Speaking about Russell’s sending off, “When you look at the other fouls in the game from Shamrock Rovers players, they sure kicked lumps out of us and got away with it, and when one of our players made a tackle they got pulled up for a foul or card.”
“We fully deserved the win. We played good football at times and when went down to ten men we showed a team togetherness and stuck hard at and in all honesty we where never going to lose.”
“Well done to the boys on that front.They showed huge character.”
“Hopefully now the lads can see that the hard work we put in can pay off and that we are capable of winning games rather than losing or drawing.”
The game was played in front of another large crowd at the Showgrounds, over 2,000 people, and Lyttle knows the importance of having the crowd fully behind the team, “We beat an in-form Shamrock Rovers team on Sunday night with the supporters driving us on. When that crowd are behind you like that the Showgrounds is a special place. They played a big part in that win.”
We also asked his opinion on the current predicament at crisis-club Bray Wanderers, “On Bray, I’m really sorry to see what’s going on. It’s a great club with great people, both players and management staff, who I’ve a lot of time and respect for. It’s just a pity. Hopefully they can sort it out.”
Photo Credit: Sligo Rovers FC