STEPHEN BRADLEY HAILED the spirit and calmness of his players after 10-man Shamrock Rovers secured a precious UEFA Conference League point with a 92nd-minute equaliser against APOEL.
Substitutes Jack Byrne and Dylan Watts combined in injury time to cancel out Konstantinos Laifis’ header after Neil Farrugia was sent off five minutes into the second half.
Watts rose highest in the box to head home an equaliser and the Hoops boss could not contain his delight at the manner of the comeback and how his players never lost focus.
“We have to target our home games, our games here, try and win games and see where it takes us. The aim is to be playing football after December. We’re on the board, we have a point, we’re up and running and the aim is try and go and get as many points on the board. We’ll have a fair idea over the course of the next two games what’s going to get you there,” Bradley said.
“I think the team showed real learnings from the last time we’ve been at this stage in terms of when we go down a man and go down a goal, they were nice and calm. They stayed really disciplined in their shape.
“You could hear them on the pitch telling each other that ‘we will get a chance, we will score’. You could hear them talking to each other and that was really pleasing to hear and see.
“It showed real maturity and real understanding that we just need to stay in the game. You always get a chance and we got it.
“The guy in Dylan’s zone is 6ft 3 and Dylan is looking up at him. He’s brave to be fair and got his head on it. But the pleasing aspect was we knew we would get a chance and it was about staying disciplined.”
Late scenes in Tallaght! 😱
— Premier Sports Ireland (@PremSportsIRL) October 3, 2024
Ten-man @ShamrockRovers equalise in added-time as Dylan Watts heads in ☘️ pic.twitter.com/h57bndmuoi
Goal scorer Watts seemed as shocked as everyone else that he was the one to get the equaliser in the manner he did.
“No, I can’t say I’ve scored many [headers], to be honest. Obviously we were pushing late on for a goal and we committed four men in the box and luckily I just found myself at the near post and it was a great ball in by Jack, and I managed to get my head on it.
“That’s what it’s all about, we’ve a lot of games and obviously we know that Europe is really difficult, but when you come onto the pitch you have to make a difference, and I think the subs did that tonight.
“They’re special nights and they’re ones you remember, and when you retire these are the moments that you remember.”
His manager also took the opportunity to stress how much progress the 27-year-old has made in his game.
“I know I’m a bit biased, but I think Dylan has been the best midfielder in the country this year. I don’t think that anyone has been on his level. I’ve been saying that to him for a number of weeks,” Bradley said.
“He probably hasn’t had the recognition because our form has been patchy domestically, obviously. But I think Dylan, as an individual, has been the best midfielder in the country. There’s been some good ones. [Mark] Coyle has been good. One or two others. [Will] Patching has been good at Derry, [Chris] Forrester has been good but I think Dylan has been right there.
“In my opinion, he’s been the best midfielder in the country this year and shown real maturity this year. He’s shown respect for the other side of the game. We know what ability he has but he’s shown maturity. He’s been one of our standout performers this year.”
APOEL manager Jose Dominguez, meanwhile, admitted his side were devastated after conceding such a late goal.
“To come on in the first game of the league phase, we felt we had the team to win three points. We had the game under control, we created chances to kill the game but we couldn’t.
“Shamrock Rovers is a team that never give up, they go for all second balls. Even with this we had everything under control and with that last chance they had they scored the goal. It’s football. It’s what it is. Very sad that it happens in this way but this is football. The players are devastated. It’s a big punch in the stomach when you concede from a dead ball.”
