By Mark McCadden

Copyright irishmirror

Alan Reynolds was ready to read the riot act to Niall Morahan over the punted cross that led to Bohemians’ opener against Waterford on Friday.

The Gypsies boss was left scratching his head as Morahan thumped the ball high into the night sky from the right-hand touchline, instead of producing a more measured cross into the penalty area.

However, as it dropped into the six yard box, Blues goalkeeper Stephen McMullan took a step towards his near post, misjudging the flight of the ball.

That left his arching backwards and stretching, and the luckless netminder could only drop the ball into his own net.

Up to that point, Bohs had created nothing other than a 70-yard Dawson Devoy effort to lob McMullan, which the goalkeeper managed to get his hands to as he scrambled backwards.

So as Morahan’s cross hung in the air, Reynolds feared that a rare opportunity to get the ball behind enemy lines had been wasted.

“I was looking at it and I was going, ‘what the f**k is he after doing?’ That’s what I was thinking,” said the Dalymount Park chief, reflecting on the key moment in the game.

“Then I thought the keeper knocked it over the crossbar.”

He added: “It was a mistake from the young keeper. It’s not for me to comment on. I’m just delighted we got a win and get ready for a big one next week (against Shamrock Rovers).”

Waterford levelled on the stroke of half-time through Padraig Amond, but Bohs claimed the three points thanks to Archie Meekison’s second-half goal.

The Phibsborough men were the only one of the 10 Premier Division teams to pick up a win on Friday night, with the other four games all ending in 1-1 draws.

Derry City’s stalemate against Shelbourne allowed Reynolds’ side to leapfrog them back into second place, while it also saw them claw back two points on leaders Shamrock Rovers.

It’s unlikely to be enough when it comes to the title race, however, as Rovers have two games in hand and Bohs have only 15 points available to them in their five remaining matches.

However, the Hoops are in action tomorrow away to Waterford and any more points dropped would leave the door slightly ajar for Bohs ahead of their visit to Tallaght Stadium next Friday.

With three wins from their three Dublin derbies so far against Rovers, few would confidently back against Bohs again when they come up against their bitter rivals.

Asked if there was any optimism regarding a late title charge, Reynolds replied: “No. They play Waterford on Monday. See how that goes.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to close the gap? We’ll see what happens after next Friday. We don’t play for a few weeks after that.”

Reynolds knows his players will have to put in a much-improved performance next week to get anything from the derby, after a below-par display on Friday against Waterford.

Yet he insisted: “It’ll be massive. It’ll be different. Everything will be different. It’s 100mph stuff against Rovers, isn’t it?

“It certainly won’t be an issue getting motivated for next Friday.”

As for Bohs’ record against the Hoops this season, he said: “I’m sure they’re wounded from that and will be looking to turn that around.

“(A win next week) would be (huge) against such a good team, to be fair. It looks like they’ll win the league.

“We play a certain way against them. They play their way and they don’t change. But they have good players, so we’ll have to be better than that tonight.”

Reflecting on Friday’s win, Reynolds said: “We didn’t play well. The pitch was poor tonight because of the weather.

“That’s a great three points, a massive three points. Whatever way it came, it didn’t make a difference as long as you get it at this stage of the season.

“Just to win the three points, especially the way we played, we weren’t at the level, but we showed good character and a bit of luck, but (we got) over the line.

“We will have to be better in our remaining games, but we have been better. Last week against Derry we got nothing out of it but we were decent for large spells.

“We weren’t anywhere near what we wanted, but we’ll take the three points and move on.”

Bohs’ run-in pits them against rivals for Europe, with St Patrick’s Athletic, Shelbourne and Drogheda United among their remaining opponents.

All three clubs are seven points adrift of Bohs, but with games in hand.

“We’re all playing each other which is good,” said Reynolds. “We’ve got a couple of big ones coming up here.

“I knew there’d be tight games, all the games are, and even this one (against Waterford) was tight. There’s a lot to play yet.”

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