Galway United captain Ryan Connolly hopes the Tribesmen can deliver an improved performance when Bray Wanderers visit Eamonn Deacy Park for tomorrow’s SSE Airtricity League premier division clash.
Last Friday United suffered a "disappointing" defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park and Connolly, an influential figure for Tommy Dunne’s team, is demanding an instant response.
“It was very disappointing,” Connolly said. “Obviously going to Pat's we were looking to get three points to push further ahead of them, but we let ourselves down.
“At the end of the day we didn't play very well. So we are definitely looking to bounce back starting here in Galway against Bray Wanderers on Friday night.”
United’s last home game on the banks of the Corrib was a victory over champions Dundalk, but Connolly accepts that inconsistency has been an issue since the start of the campaign.
“Inconsistent is definitely a word I would use,” Connolly says. “Even against Dundalk we weren't brilliant on the ball. We worked really hard and we did really well to win the game, but it was just three points. Then against St Pat's I think we let ourselves down on the ball again. We just have to improve on that side of things. We have to get more consistent because we are working hard.
“Even though we didn't play well, I still think we definitely deserved to get something out of the game, maybe we could even have won the game. We were just poor on the night, we have to put that right on Friday.
“The Dundalk game showed what the club can be. It was a huge game with them doing so well in the Champions League qualifiers, obviously the TV cameras were here and there was a great crowd. That is the way it should be week in, week out. That is what we want to play in front of week in, week out.
“We want even bigger crowds if we can get them. It was still only three points and we have to think that we drew with Longford the week before and we then lost to St Pat's.”
For the remainder of the season Connolly wants United to become "more ruthless" as United strive to earn a top half finish in the table.
“Maybe we need to be more ruthless, but I think more often than not you get what you deserve in football. We weren't good enough against Pat's, we are so much better than what we showed. So maybe it was justified that we lost 1-0. We still could have taken something from the game despite playing poorly, but we just have to pick ourselves up. We have to go again.
“We need to pick up three points on Friday, hopefully in front of a big crowd. The pitch is unreal, so we are looking forward to that game. We just have to take things on a week to week basis. We are looking to finish as high up the table as we can. We need to start picking up results.”
