Bradley hoping home form can play Hoops into contention

Stephen Bradley still harbours hopes of Shamrock Rovers qualifying for the knock-out phase of the Europa Conference League.

A tall order for the Hoops who sit rock bottom of their group at the half-way stage of proceedings, having acquired just the solitary point from their three games played.

Rovers opened their campaign with a hard-fought draw over Swedish league side Djurgardens at Tallaght Stadium, however, they were well beaten twice on the road, losing 3-0 to both Gent in Belgium and Molde in Norway.

The four teams in the group are, however, taking points off each other and the League of Ireland champions could feasibly play their way back into contention of a top-two finish with a victory over the visitors to Tallaght Stadium tomorrow night.

In fact, Rovers have two home games in succession with the arrival of Gent later this month, and Bradley is hoping that his side have something to play for in the final group game, which takes place in Stockholm against Djurgardens on 3 November.

A tough ask for a side also looking to keep their title push intact on the home front, but one that the manager is preparing for as he sends his side out to hopefully play to a higher level compared to last week, when the manager named an understrength side for the game in Molde.

"I think we can [qualify]," said Bradley, speaking at the pre-match press conference. "If we win our next two games, it's all to play for against Djurgardens.

"But we have to take care of a difficult game tomorrow night and then Gent, and both games we lost quite comfortably away, and we know we have to [reach our levels] if we want to win both, but I think if we win both, we are right there, because the group is really tight."

Key players like Jack Byrne, Graham