ROSS Tierney reckons that Bohemians should draw comfort from their recent run.
The Gypsies host Galway United tonight looking for a first win in three matches, having drawn their last two.
But what made their 1-1 result against Sligo Rovers and 0-0 stalemate with St Pat’s noteworthy was those are their only draws of the campaign.
It has been boom or bust, with Bohs winning 12 and losing nine of the opening 21 games. But Tierney reckons that the draws show progress.
He said: “The last two games . . . it’s been frustrating. We’ve come off in both feeling disappointed, which is probably the standard we’ve set ourselves.
“We’re a bit annoyed we didn’t win both games. But it also shows how far we’ve come in a short space of time.
“The last time we were in Inchicore, we lost 3-0. And now we’re disappointed leaving them with a draw. We probably lose both those games earlier in the season.”
The fact that Bohemians are now picking up results where they were not earlier in the campaign bodes well for the run-in, with Alan Reynolds’ side currently third in the table.
They are 11 points off top dogs Shamrock Rovers, with two games in hand which will be played this month — the first being this evening’s clash.
But Tierney cautions against lofty expectations as he recalls last year when he joined a third-from-bottom Bohs side that could have gone fourth had they won their games in hand.
Instead, three months later, after playing those outstanding games, they were still third from bottom.
This time however, the former Motherwell midfielder believes Bohs have benefited from the hard work done in pre-season and their recent habit of scoring late goals.
Tierney and Co may not be not be the league’s most prolific scorers, but no other team has netted later than the Phibsborough outfit — including winners against Shamrock Rovers, St Pat’s, Galway, Cork and Sligo.
The 24-year-old added: “It’s not by luck, we go right to the death, it’s one of the reasons why we work so hard in pre-season.
“We were back in on December 3 and we were giving out saying we shouldn’t be running around when all the rest of the teams were on holidays.
“But it was drilled into us that it would get us an edge on the rest of the league.
“We saw the benefits straight away in pre-season games. But it took a while for it to show in league results. We started well, but then the results weren’t as good as the performances.
“Even the last two, I felt we were going to win them because it was us creating chances in the last 15 or 20 minutes.”
Bohs have the same squad as last week with Alex Lacey (hamstring) and Archie Meekison (hamstring) the only absentees.
Galway hope that Patrick Hickey can recover from a foot injury, while new signing Aaron Bolger could start.
ODDS: Bohemians 8-13, Galway 4-1, Draw 27-10.
