BOHEMIANS MANAGER KEITH Long believes his promising young side will learn from their mistakes after suffering a disappointing last-minute defeat from the penalty spot against Dundalk on Monday night.
The Dubliners went ahead thanks to an early goal from Danny Grant after only two minutes at Oriel Park, but were pegged back thanks to a Georgie Kelly equaliser just past the hour mark.
A foul from defender Andy Lyons on Dean Jarvis, just moments after a goal-line clearance from the 18-year-old, saw Dundalk awarded a 96th-minute penalty which Patrick Hoban converted to seal a 2-1 win.
The Gypsies were forced to play the majority of the second half with 10 men after Ryan Graydon was dismissed for two yellow cards in the space of nine minutes, with the loss Bohemians’ third defeat in four games.
“It was a gut-wrenching injury-time defeat away, which consigned us to our second reversal to Dundalk in 10 days and a third defeat in just over a month against them,” Long said.
There was late heartbreak for @bfcdublin as their young side were undone again against @dundalkfc. @PaHoban10 scored the 94th minute penalty to keep the Lilywhites top. pic.twitter.com/ZoLJ9pMUyh
— Soccer Republic (@SoccRepublic) May 21, 2019
“Having gone ahead in the game with an expertly taken goal from Danny Grant, things started to unravel for us.”
The Bohs manager added: “Being a man down proved difficult. We had no real outlet but we defended resolutely with the occasional counter-attack.
“James [Talbot] made a couple of fantastic saves after the equaliser, which kept the game alive for us until injury-time when we broke and should have scored a winner with Robbie McCourt failing to make enough contact with Danny Mandroiu cross.
But that highlighted one of the significant differences between us and Dundalk at this time. Danny was actually fouled in the penalty area before crossing to Robbie, but Danny stayed on his feet trying to create a goal-scoring opportunity.
“If that was a Dundalk player, they would have hit the ground and would have given the ref a decision to make. We need to be cuter in these moments and learn from this horrible feeling.”
The 45-year-old said due to the youthful nature of his side — just three of Bohemians’ players on Monday were over the age of 21 — they would have to learn from their mistakes in garnering more experience in such situations.
“The concession of another late penalty to decide the game was a dagger to the heart but, again, we have to do better. We are young. We have — and will continue to — make mistakes,” Long added.
“But we must learn quickly how to manage moments in games better if we are to progress and continue to move forward.”
The Dalymount Park club started the season in electric fashion, winning nine of their opening 14 Premier Division fixtures. However the side have just one win in their last six league outings ahead of tomorrow’s meeting with Sligo in Phibsborough.
“This is an opportunity for us to bounce back from Monday’s disappointment,” Long said looking ahead to Friday’s clash at Dalymount against the Bit O’Red.
“We need to show our mettle now and put in a performance at home after a couple of disappointing results.”
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