ALAN REYNOLDS revealed how increasing the fitness levels of his squad has been a key focus.
Reynolds took charge of Bohemians 2½ weeks ago and has overseen victories away to Galway United and Shelbourne, as well as defeats to Waterford and Shamrock Rovers.
But the win over league leaders Shels moved the Gypsies into fifth and they can climb to third with victory over Dundalk tomorrow, with another home game to come against Drogheda United on Friday.
Bohs centre-halves Jevon Mills and Aboubacar Keita had their difficulties in the defeat to Rovers.
And while Keita’s half-clearance led to the penalty at Tolka Park, the pair fared much better in this derby.
And Reynolds said: “They are getting fitter and it’s something I have identified. I am actually isolating them, doing one-v-ones in big spaces.
“I am asking a lot of them and they were better on Friday. They will grow.”
The pair were two of five players who arrived in the last 48 hours of the transfer window when the season had started.
Asked if that explained why their fitness was short of expectations or if it was a more general issue, Reynolds said: “I don’t want to say too much.
“What I look for in fitness levels and the rest is a bit different. It will take time to get there, they are improving but we have to be careful that we don’t break down while I get them there.
“Last week was the first week I worked with them as I came with so many games in a short space of time.
“It was chaotic during the first eight or nine days so we were having a bit of time with each other and got to know them. They care and want to win.
“Are we perfect? Far from it. But winning a Dublin derby will help so I suppose the character was a lot better.
“Shels started well in the first 20 minutes. We got a break and finished the half better, scored the penalty and scored from a corner kick. It was a tough night against a really good team.”
The training-ground work was underlined by the corner routine from which Jordan Flores scored his second goal.
And Reynolds made no apologies for trying to run down the clock once Will Jarvis pulled one back after the hour.
He said: “We played a game last week and there could have been 15 minutes of extra time. It’s now part of the game.
“We needed to tweak one or two things but they do it every week. I hate it but I probably brought it into the game.”
BIG WEEK
Home clashes against the bottom two of Dundalk and Drogheda United this week would appear to offer Bohs the chance to climb further up the table.
Reynolds said: “We spoke about having a good win in Galway and the reaction after that wasn’t great, against Waterford.
“That has to change, the mentality.
“It’s a great win you can enjoy for 20 seconds but the mentality has to change and we have to go out and put on a performance on Monday.
“I’ve got to see more of the other players but I kind of stuck with what I had seen. I’ll look at certain things and see how they recover.
“We have a decent squad and people will get a chance.”