Shamrock Rovers aiming to exceed expectations in Europe after Larne victory says manager Stephen Bradley

Why limit our expectations, was the message from Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley following tonight's comprehensive 4-1 victory over Larne at Windsor Park.

The Dublin club secured their first victory in the UEFA Conference League to remain unbeaten after two games of their six-match schedule as the Hoops maintain their ambition to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition.

Rovers sit tenth in the table with four points from their opening two games and with 24 of the 36 teams progressing, Bradley’s side are well placed with four games remaining.

The Hoops became the first Irish team to qualify for the group stages of a European competition when Michael O’Neill’s side impressed in the Europa League back in 2011, and now the current league champions are aiming to go one better.

Rovers came into tonight’s game as favourites against the Irish League champions and they lived up to the billing as they raced into an early lead and went three up inside the opening 34 minutes.

Larne hit back early in the second half, however, the Hoops re-emphasised their superiority with a fourth goal to halt any hope of a comeback allowing Bradley’s side to ease down through the gears for the final 30-odd minutes of this one-sided contest.

"It’s all well and good having [a game-plan] but the players have to cross the white line and implement it," said Bradley, speaking at the post match press conference.

"I thought they did that really, really well. They took the fight out of the game, they took the occasion out of the game. That was really important that they did that. I thought they controlled the game from the first minute.

"Graham (Burke), Danny (Mandroiu), Aaron (McEneff), Markus (Poom); them four ran the game, which was really