Bohemians 0 Sligo Rovers 3
The much maligned Dalymount Park surface didn't stop the Sligo machine from churning out another victory as Ian Baraclough's men made it five wins from five Premier Division games with a 3-0 victory over Bohemians, providing RTÉ with live League of Ireland goals for the first time in four attempts in the process.
First half goals from Raffaele Cretaro and Aaron Greene were complimented by a second half Anthony Elding header to make sure that a potentially tricky away fixture was navigated without error as Bohemians failed to carve out enough clear-cut opportunities, despite playing the entirety of the game with an extra man in midfield.
The result sees Sligo increase their lead at the top of the table to five points with only five games gone - and the Bit O' Red's impressive return of 12 goals with only two against highlights their attacking prowess and defensive meanness simultaneously.
Indeed, despite Sligo's three goal haul against a young Bohs side, it was Evan McMillan who emerged as the game's stand-out performer at the back as he was on hand to tidy up on the few occasions that Bohs did manage to find a way in behind the Sligo defence, as well as being his usual menacing self at set-pieces.
As for Aaron Callaghan, he will find little fault in his players' overall performance but will perhaps rue the individual errors which contributed to two of the three goals his side conceded on the night.
His only concern after this game will be the lack of guile his side displayed when they did find themselves in possession of the ball in decent areas - of the 11 shots Bohs managed on goal, only one came from inside the box (which hit the side netting), with another two forcing Sligo 'keeper Gary Rogers into making a save, both of which were comfortable.
The opening goal knocked the stuffing out of the Gypsies and came before some fans had even taken their seats. 'Cross' Gaynor joined the attack from the full-back position, a prominent feature of many Sligo attacks this season, and delivered a cross first-time straight into the heart of the Bohs penalty area.
Roberto Lopes initially looked the favourite to win the cross but Raffaele Cretaro nipped in and took it on his chest; Lopes had a chance to clear but was muscled off it by Cretaro in a moment's hesitation - and demonstrating quick close control the Sligo man toe-poked it between the legs of Dean Delaney. It was great composure from the former Bohs striker and it put his old club on the back foot after only two minutes.
A hashed clearance moments later from Delaney did little to restore confidence in Callaghan's young team as they struggled to keep hold of the ball for more than three or four passes. Referee Graham Kelly gave a soft free-kick against Ryan McEvoy for handball and from the resulting Gaynor out-swinger Cretaro saw a chance to double his tally heroically blocked by the redemption-seeking Lopes.
Then, Cretaro linked up with Premier Division top-scorer Anthony Elding to win a corner from which he scored a superb volley - only to see it ruled out for a foul on McEvoy by Aaron Greene which was committed as the ball came out to him.
Bohs started in a 4-5-1 with Kevin Devaney up front on his own, but the midfield triumvirate of McEvoy, Dave Mulcahy and Keith Buckley couldn't link up effectively with their striker as he was well-marshalled by Evan McMillan.
In fact, Bohs' best attacking outlet in the first half was right-back Derek Pender who made a number of incisive runs down the right-side which caused Sligo some problems. One such run saw him roll the ball inside to Mulcahy, whose heavy touch fell to Stephen Traynor - but his curled effort from the edge of the area landed safely in Rogers' gloves.
Another Pender run produced an even better chance five minutes later when he skipped inside the challenge of Gaynor and played a cute pass in behind McMillan. Devaney was alive to it and took a touch before smashing his shot off the side netting. The Bohs fans felt there was a way back into this tie.
However, that chance would prove to be a false dawn as Sligo doubled their lead on 29 minutes through another former Gypsie. Aaron Greene, deployed as a left winger, found himself on the right-hand side of the Bohs penalty area when he received a Ryan Connolly pass. With back to goal, he held off the challenges of two Bohs defenders before swivelling and unleashing a fierce left foot strike into Delaney's bottom left-hand corner from twenty yards.
The second half started scrappily with neither side able to keep possession for too long. Bohs suffered a blow at the interval, losing skipper Owen Heary to an injury sustained in a challenge in the first-half. He was replaced by Stephen Paisley who was making his first Premier Division appearance of the season. Karl Moore switched flanks having had no joy against Sligo captain Alan Keane in the first half; he cut inside Gaynor on 53 minutes and hit a speculative effort from 25 yards that flew over the crossbar, much to the amusement of the travelling Sligo support behind the goal.
Five minutes later Moore was hooked, with Dave Scully coming on as Callaghan switched to a 3-5-2, moving Pender into a central midfield role beside McEvoy and Buckley with Traynor remaining on the right and Luke Byrne pushing up to the left-wing; Dave Mulcahy dropped back into the three-man defence with Paisley and Lopes while Scully partnered Devaney up top. Byrne began to cause some problems on the left side, with his near-post cross cut out by Henderson, who seemed to come through Devaney to clear - Kelly ignored penalty appeals.
Byrne then got his head onto a McEvoy free-kick at the back-post but he put it wide. Ultimately, Callaghan's tactical changes would be in vain as his side conceded a third goal - and of course it would be a trademark header from the find of the season, Anthony Elding.
Cretaro was involved again, latching onto a through ball into the right-channel by Sligo substitute Kieran Djilali, and his cross to the back post was nodded home by the criminally unmarked Elding. That's seven goals in six games for the former Grimbsy striker, all of them poacher's goals. Teams would want to start marking him tighter. Danny North would want to start figuring out how he can fit into this winning team when he gets back from injury.
A poor challenge on Keane by Traynor in the 88th minute summed up his side's frustrations. A McEvoy free-kick in the 91st minute for a soft foul on Traynor by Cawley offered Bohs a chance for a consolation goal - but his effort scuttled along the ground and was easily gathered by Rogers. That was as hard as he had to work all night.
TEAMS:
Bohemians: Dean Delaney; Derek Pender, Owen Heary (Stephen Paisley, 45 mins), Roberto Lopes, Luke Byrne; Stephen Traynor, Dave Mulcahy, Keith Buckley (Darragh Hanaphy, 83 mins), Ryan McEvoy, Karl Moore (Dave Scully, 58 mins); Kevin Devaney. Subs not used: Greg Murray, Michael Barker, Ciarán Nangle, Shane Murray.
Booked/sent off: Stephen Traynor (87 mins)/none
Sligo Rovers: Gary Rogers; Alan Keane, Jeff Henderson, Evan McMillan, Ross Gaynor; Ryan Connolly (Kieran Djilali, 62 mins), Lee Lynch, David Cawley, Aaron Greene (Pascal Millen, 80 mins); Raffaele Cretaro (Liam Martin, 89 mins), Anthony Elding. Subs not used: Ciaran Kelly, Iarfhlaith Davoren, Hugh McFadden, Marty Owens.
Booked/sent off: David Cawley (90+ mins)/none
Ref: Graham Kelly
FTR Man of the match: Evan McMillan
MATCH STATS (Bohemians/Sligo Rovers):
Shots: 11(2)/13(7)
Corners: 2/5
Fouls: 7/8
Offsides: 2/2
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