Heary: Fenlon's fury helped fledglings to beat Drog and go top

A 1-0 win at home to Drogheda United, courtesy of Anto Flood's 56th-minute goal, allowed Bohs to claim top spot in the table, though Shamrock Rovers or Sligo Rovers can of course go above the Gypsies depending on the outcome of their meeting at the Showgrounds tonight.

Bohs skipper Owen Heary says that Fenlon's fresh-faced side -- impressive youngsters Lee Dixon, Stephen Traynor and Karl Somers all featured last night -- still needed some harsh words from their manager at the break as they were struggling to convert chances into goals, before Flood broke the deadlock 11 minutes into the second half, finishing past keeper David Quirke at close range from Mark Rossiter's superb cross.

"It was nice to get the win, but Drogheda at home is a game we need to be winning. A clean sheet was the real bonus from the night for me, we had a lot of chances in the first half but we didn't start off too well, maybe it was caginess because it was our first home league game," Heary told the Herald.

"Pat gave us a bit of a bollocking at half-time. We were standing off Drogheda, weren't closing them down or putting in challenges as much as we needed to, they were able to play through us too easy.

Immense

"When Pat has a go at you, you know you're doing something wrong so he had a few words at half-time and players upped their game in the second half, we should really have won it 3-0, but it was still nice to win with a clean sheet.

"Anto Flood scored the goal for us but he could have had a hat-trick, and Lee Dixon missed an absolute sitter, maybe the miss of the season. But we all worked hard, Aidan Price and Ollie Cahill were immense at the back, Mark Rossiter had a great game," added Heary.

"It shows the standards we still have at Bohemians, despite all the problems the club had and despite having so many young players. There's no point in players coming to Bohs and thinking it's going to be a stroll, that's not the way Pat or any of us think. I want to win trophies here, and we have to instill that attitude into the young players.

"The young lads are doing well but they can't rest on their laurels. We can't start thinking we've made it just because we're top of the table after two wins, we have a very big game next week against Dundalk -- who I think will be challenging this season -- so that's another test of how we'll fare."

Bohs practically owned the ball in the first half but could not break down a United side who had chances of their own, Dinny Corcoran going close on 33 minutes. Flood (pictured) managed to beat Quirke but winger Dixon should really have made it 2-0 10 minutes from time.