Stephen Bradley wants more domestic dominance to boost Shamrock Rovers' European ambitions

Shamrock Rovers need to have less chopping and changing if they're to make a real mark in Europe next season, according to their manager Stephen Bradley.

After starting their Conference League campaign with an encouraging performance in a scoreless draw with Djurgardens, it took until last night for Rovers to add to their points tally with another draw, this time against Gent.

In the intervening three games, the Hoops shipped eight goals as their hopes of making a real tilt at progressing out of the Group F vanished with two group fixtures left to play.

For Rovers to take the next step it will be a case of getting a few of their ducks in a row, with a more settled team top of Bradley's agenda.

"We made too many changes in games," he says of the lessons they need to take into Europe in 2023.

"We knew that at the time. If you make five changes to your team it takes your rhythm away. You'd like to make only one or two.

"But you have to make those changes because the players you're changing are carrying knocks and they can only play one game in a week.

"You've got to decide what game are they going to play for you. People look at it and say you've made a lot of changes, but there's so many factors that go into that.

"Players' load over the course of a season - are they in the red zone, are they going to get injured? There's so much that goes into making them decisions.

"A lot of players we changed were carrying knocks and the physios and doctors are saying, 'of the three games this week they can only play in one'.

"It's not ideal, we know it's not ideal. Hopefully if we get to this stage next year, we haven't got the knocks to those key players and you make or two changes, not five.

"Five doesn't help anybody."

The Hoops wrapped up a