Sligo Rovers host Cork City on Monday night in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division.
Rovers were beaten 1-0 on Friday by St Patrick’s Athletic as an injury-time goal from Mikey Drennan won it for the Saints.
The Bit O’ Red looked to be on course for a deserved point but now move on looking to bounce back against the Rebels.
To celebrate the launch of our IT Sligo scholarship agreement, all IT Sligo students will gain entry for €5 on the night with this year’s IT Sligo student card.
In injury news, Johnny Dunleavy (groin), David Cawley (knee) and Ronan Murray (ankle) are all doubtful.
Buckley said on the trio: “Johnny had a slight groin strain and we’re not sure on him. It’ll be a late call. David Cawley could potentially make the bench. He is back in training and has the all clear. Ronan Murray rolled his ankle a couple of weeks ago and we’ll do a late call on him too. He is not too far away. Certainly if they don’t make it tomorrow they will make next Friday. We’ll see how we are.”
The Rovers boss reflected on Friday night and two games so far.
“The goal in the last minute killed us. I thought we put in a reasonable shift from a work point of view. There wasn’t a lot between the two teams, I don’t think either deserved to win baring in mind the way the game went.
“We were disappointed we didn’t pick up a point keeping in mind the likes of St Patrick’s Athletic and Dundalk would see themselves as top four teams and we have held our own in both matches so far.
“Looking at the game, Pat’s had a bit of possession and we had a bit of possession. We just need to be better on the ball. I’ll be honest; we haven’t seen the best of this group as of yet because technically they are very good and we just need to stamp our style on the play.
“We’ve emphasised that again on Sunday in relation to playing on Monday. We need to get our personality in the game and if we do get the best out of the lads from a collective point of view I think we’ll have a good season.
“The pre-season we did was great and it’ll be injury-preventitive as well bar knocks. Organisation has been good as well – we’ve discussed that with them – and John Russell has done a bit of work on that. It’s just our creativity, how we are we to win games, where will we get goals from, who is getting them, where the chances are going to be coming from and how we play as an XI that will come.
“We just don’t want it to be by chance. We want to get it all by design. You wouldn’t have seen it at all in the first two games, hopefully on Monday we’ll get a bit more in general play in relation to getting results. We want to get better and play that bit better.”
Over 3,300 fans were in attendance on Friday night and gave great backing to the players.
Buckley said it was appreciated and it’ll help the team as they try to get more points on the board.
“They were fantastic. We are well supported. I was just gutted for them in relation to that goal because two draws against those teams would have been a good start for us but it wasn’t to be. There was a kick of the ball between the two teams, so from our end we have to take the positives and we have to move on and get a result out of Cork.
“We need to improve and we will get that. Hopefully on Monday it’ll be that bit better and each week to come and trust in each other in relation to how we are trying to play.
“There is pressure on every team to win games. It’ll be a dog rough league this year. It’s very competitive. You see Finn Harps also getting a draw from Dundalk.
“From where we are at, I’m not overly concerned about the opposition. I just want to get our team playing better. We need to improve our patterns of play and how we’re trying to win games and put our stamp on the game.”