Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley has said that "sloppy minds" are not acceptable as the side once again found themselves trapped in a massive hole during their 2-2 draw with Shelbourne at Tolka Park.
The champions were 2-0 down after 13 minutes in Monday night's rearranged fixture, coming hot on the heels of falling 3-0 behind to Bohemians in their last away league outing in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division.
On that occasion they lost 3-2 after a late rally proved worthless, but they did manage to avoid defeat here with John McGovern and Dylan Watts, from the penalty spot, securing a point against Shels.
Bradley felt his side excelled after the concession of the second goal, but it didn’t totally cool off his displeasure.
"We just didn’t start, it was a sloppy start from us. Defensively really poor obviously and we gave them a headstart," he told RTÉ Sport.
"Just sloppy - sloppy minds - we weren’t ready to start the game and that’s not acceptable. We can’t do that and get away with it.
"We did tonight, we were the better team, but we can’t be giving teams two-goal leads.
"The players worked it out, they’re top players, but you can’t start like that in any game."
Bradley was again heartened by the response of his players, with the champions now five points behind Bohs with as many games played.
"After the goals we gave away we were excellent in every capacity," he said.
"Frustrating at the start but everything else after that was really, really good."
"Of course, yeah," Bradley added when asked was it two points dropped.
Shelbourne manager Joey O’Brien, meanwhile, feels his side are just small percentage points away from ascending the table.
The side’s wait for a home league win this season continues after throwing away such a promising advantage. By no means a bad result, but given they were two goals up after 13 minutes, it was a night ultimately full of frustration.
The manager has experienced that in a number of games this year already as they trail leaders Bohs by seven points, but he’s confident it won’t take huge changes to start picking up victories.
"It’s a long way to go, we’ve definitely left points behind in the first couple of games," he said.
"Galway here, Shamrock Rovers tonight, St Pat’s the other night – pretty close margins.
"Derry and Bohs next Friday and Monday, great isn’t it?"
O’Brien, understandably, was delighted with the side’s early assault on Rovers, but less impressed with how they dealt with such a golden opportunity.
"I thought we started really well, we got on the front foot, went after the game – really attacked the game. Two up and another big chance to go three up with John (Martin).
"Then we sat back a little bit, let them come into it a bit, they got a good goal to make it 2-1, a bad decision by Wes (Speel) obviously to come out and take him (McGovern) out for the penalty – I don’t think he’d a lot of work to do after that.
"Second half they’d a bit of possession but there weren’t many chances really. We had a good chance at the end and we didn’t take it."
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