Late Chambers penalty gets Shamrock Rovers out of jail

LEAGUE OF IRELAND/Sporting Fingal 1 Shamrock Rovers 1:AS HIS team ran Bohemians close at the top of the table through the tail end of last season, Michael O'Neill speculated more than once on what might have been had his men not made a relatively slow start to the campaign.

After a third draw in the opening weeks of the new title race and with his side having already lost twice, O'Neill must be beginning to look back on the spring of 2009's form with growing nostalgia.

Injuries, of course, continue to take their toll on Rovers, with Gary Twigg's ongoing absence perhaps the most difficult one for the club's supporters to endure.

The arrival of Thomas Stewart, James Chambers and Chris Turner have helped to boost the side's attacking options over the past couple of weeks and yet, for all their possession and half-chances at Morton Stadium yesterday, they effectively got out of jail and avoided defeat when Gary O'Neill handled a Chambers free four minutes from time and the midfielder stepped up to drive the penalty in low off the left-hand post.

A strong wind made for a terrible game but the home support were not complaining after Conan Byrne somehow pushed past both Danny Murphy and Craig Sives deep inside the area before driving beyond Alan Mannus to open the scoring.

"We're disappointed that with just 10 minutes or so to go after we scored that we didn't manage to see it out because it would have been a great three points for us," admitted Liam Buckley afterwards.

"Look, we went 22 games last season without losing and there's no doubt that it becomes a habit," said O'Neill afterwards. "But we've gone three now and we were without six players out there today so I've no doubt that we'll only get better and stronger as we get bodies back.

"We've struggled so far at Tallaght and nobody's under any illusions about us needing to improve but people carry on as if we've committed some sort of dastardly crime: It's two defeats at home, we'll get over that."

Neither manager was in a hurry to read too much into their respective performances because of the conditions. Starting with the breeze at their backs, Sporting had initially looked strong, but Rovers gradually came into the game and looked comfortably the better of the two sides in the lead up to half-time.

That fuelled a suspicion that they might push on and win the game after the break but the pattern was simply reversed; their strong start to the second period largely petering out as the locals started to get fractionally on top of the often chaotic midfield battle.

"It's difficult to play in because you try to establish some sort of pattern to your play and work hard to pass it up the pitch but as soon as you lose the ball it seems like you're back in your own half," observed Buckley.

As often as not, it seemed, it was actually their own box that the team playing into the wind suddenly found themselves defending in after losing the ball and the real surprise over the course of the afternoon was not that there wasn't more quality football, but rather that there wasn't a few more goals.

O'Neill had his side's best chances of the first half by some distance when Robert Bayly played a rash back pass some 25 metres out but the striker delayed far too long, allowing Dan Murray and Mannus to smother the shooting opportunity between them.

At the other end, most of Rovers' lone frontman Thomas Stewart's chances were far less clear cut and the newly signed striker looked as rusty as you'd expect given his late signing and sudden return to action.

His real problem, though, was the lack of penetration from the Rovers' midfield, which failed to get forward and lend much of a helping hand.

That might have to change come Friday night if Rovers are to secure a first home win of the season by beating the champions Bohemians and kick-starting their title challenge.

SPORTING FINGAL: Clarke; O'Brien, Maher, Browne, Frost (Quinn, 9 mins); McFaul; Byrne, Finn, Williams, Zayed; O'Neill.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Mannus; Sives, Murray, Price, Murphy (Barrett, 83 mins); O'Connor (Dennehy, 71 mins), Chambers, Turner, Bayly (Rice, 71), Cahill; Stewart.

Referee: A Buttimer (Cork).