Bradley remaining calm despite Hoops' poor form

Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley said his squad are remaining calm in the quest for the single point they need to become champions ahead of the visit of Galway United to Tallaght Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Hoops have missed out on three opportunities to clinch the title, while Derry City have maintained a winning run to take the race into the final week of the campaign.

Goal difference means it's extremely unlikely the trophy heads anywhere but Tallaght.

With relegation-threatened Galway and Sligo Rovers visiting this week, there are two major chances for Shamrock Rovers to seal their fifth title in six years.

Despite losing their last three matches as well as disappointing results against strong European opposition, Bradley said nothing has changed within their camp.

He told RTÉ Sport this morning: "I understand people outside are frustrated and we've had a few opportunities to win the league the last few weeks. I totally understand the questions but it's our job here to remain calm and understand that the final part in any league-winning season is always the hardest part.

"It always feels like it takes ages to come around and you have to work that little bit harder. We just need to stay focused on what we do and we know what we got to do to get over the line.

"You don't win what this group has won and are on the verge of what they're doing this year if you haven't got strong characters with incredible mentality in our group.

"It's small little bits going against us at the moment, but that's football, that happens. It happens every season. Right now it's just happened to us in the last few weeks. We just need to stay calm."

The long-serving boss paid tribute to his players for what they have achieved so far this year, having been largely unbeaten domestically until recent weeks: "This group have been incredible for so long. Their mentality is amazing, they just need to stay focused. They're on the verge of winning the fifth league title, they're in a cup final, they were in the knockout phases of Europe (and are back in the league phase now).

"You don't do that if there's something missing with your mentality. When you're used to winning and you lose games, that's not a nice feeling and we want to put that right.

"We're not a team that come in and start trying things and shouting and ranting to be able to understand what happened, we understand how we can get better and move on."

Bradley said he will make changes to his team for both Wednesday's fixture and Saturday's clash with Sligo. The two games will also have major implications in the battle to avoid the relegation play-off.

The Hoops boss said it isn't unusual to utilise his squad at this time of year: "We'll always change the group. You've seen that last week against Celje, you've seen it against Derry and you'll see it tomorrow night, you'll see it Saturday. We always trust the squad completely, we trust every player in the squad.

"We always rotate when we have heavy fixtures which we have and that will continue to be the case."

Danny Mandroiu, Aaron Greene are ruled out with injuries but could return for the Conference League clash with AEK Athens on 6 November or the FAI Cup final three days later.

Danny Grant will feature in either the Galway or Sligo clash after overcoming injury.

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