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Keith Long believes his bohemian side should have received a penalty in the second half as Shamrock Rovers prevailed at Tallaght Stadium.
The top-of-the-table clash between the Dublin Derby rivals followed the path of the Rovers with a 1-0 win that gave Stephen Bradley’s team a five-point lead at the top of the SSE Airtricity League.
But Bohs had a penalty cry in each half, and in the second period winger Danny Grant fell into the box after a challenge from Hoops defender Liam Scales. Referee Derek Tomney rejected the appeals.
Bohs manager Long disagreed with that decision after the game.
“I definitely think it’s a penalty in the second half,” he told RTÉ Sport.
“I think there could have been an incident in the first half as well, that was clear.
“I think if you’re being consistent, and this is what drives us crazy, James Finnerty gets booked for a match, a body check out of the box and gets a yellow card and rightly so in the first half.”
But Long acknowledged that first-half performance was the determining factor in the result, including conceding an early goal after failing to clear his defensive lines.
“It’s a bad goal to concede. We haven’t conceded a lot of goals and that was a really cheap soft goal that allows the Rovers to get ahead,” he said.
“They controlled the game a bit from there. I think in the first half, they were probably much cuter than us.
“We have a young team, but we must be smarter and not as naive as we showed in the first half.
“We were a bit passive and we stayed away from them and we showed them probably too much respect.”
Despite his team now being five points behind with eight games to play, Bohs’ coach suggested the season still has “round and round” at the top.
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