Rogers blasts Harps efforts in Athlone as ‘lazy' and 'just not what we coach'

The final whistle was almost an hour old when Finn Harps manager Dave Rogers finally emerged from the dressing room at Athlone Town Stadium, and in many cases, that passage of time can dull the edge of a manager’s anger, leading to a more measured response to a heavy defeat. 

That wasn’t the case here, as the Liverpool native was happy to call out his side’s 4-1 defeat as an extremely poor showing that was lacking so many key elements. 

“That’s the worst performance we’ve had all season since myself and Darren have been here. It’s just not acceptable, and I’ve told the boys that” he told the Donegal Democrat. 

“I’ve told them that I’d always support them and back them as a collective, but we’ve prepared the right way, we’ve had a really good run, and it’s not even a bad first half performance, the whole 90 minutes is not acceptable for a Finn Harps team under Dave Rogers” he said. 

“I’m not going to name names and criticize people in public – we’ll do that in the dressing room – but the boys know that that performance was lazy, lethargic, and just not what we coach or what we expect from our players. 

“We expect maximum effort, we expect people to run around for each other, we expect people to chase balls and keep the football when we’re in possession, and I want to apologise to our fans, who still stayed around at the end to cheer us off the pitch. They’ve travelled on a bank holiday and paid good money, and they deserve better”. 

Some of Rogers’ anger emanated from the sense of missed opportunity. A win here would have left Finn Harps level on points with Wexford FC, current holders of the last playoff spot, while it would also have dragged Athlone Town back into the mix. 

However, in the main, Rogers indicated that it was less about the failure to collect three points, and much more about the team’s failure to produce any sort of performance. 

“There’s still nine teams that can reach the playoff spots, and we don’t look too far ahead. But when an opportunity arises like today, when you’re saying to the boys, we’ve got a really good chance to gain more points and kick up the table, and then to turn up like that in the first half?” he bemoaned. 

“Unfortunately, to lose Ryan Rainey again, who was outstanding in his comeback on Friday, that was a big loss. But he got a dead leg and we don’t want to risk losing him for any longer because we lost him for three months. He’s our captain, he drives the team and he’s got real bite and passion. 

“But the players that come in are more than capable of keeping a place on this team and they’re capable of getting results, because we’ve done it for the last five games. But that tonight, it’s really disappointing from our point of view as a group of staff, and the players, I’ve no doubt, will probably be a little bit embarrassed by that performance tonight, like myself. 

“Against Galway United on Friday, when we stood toe-to-toe with them, used a lot of energy and got on the front foot, that was exactly what we’re looking for” the manager concluded. 

“But tonight, that was not a Dave Rogers team, and they know that. I’m expecting a big response when we play Treaty United on Friday”.