Keith Long: 'Kurtis was disappointed he hadn't overhead kicked it in the top corner!'

Bohemians manager Keith Long was less than pleased following his side's 1-0 win over Wexford Youths on Monday night despite the fact it lifted his side to the top half of the table for the first time this season.

Kurtis Byrne's goal on the stroke of half-time prompted a huge sigh of relief across Dalymount Park after the home side had endured a first half onslaught from a fresher-looking Youths side, and for a time it looked like a third successive defeat was in the offing.

However, after conceding twice each to Dundalk and Galway United in successive league games, the second half was a breeze for Long's men as goalkeeper Shane Supple was rarely troubled on his way to keeping a fifth clean sheet in 10 games.

“It was an ugly win,” the Dubliner told Extratime.ie after the game.

“I thought arguably Wexford had the better of the first half, certainly in the early part of the first half. We grew into it without ever playing particularly well ourselves.

“We scored a goal from a good bit of play around the edge of the box with Paddy Kavanagh beating the first man and Kurtis was there to prod it home.

“I didn't think they really tested us then after, but nor did we take the game to them. It was one of those type of games that wasn't one for the purists – it wasn't a great spectacle.

“At the end of the day, it's a scrappy game that we've won. We've come out the right side of that this time.

“It wasn't a particularly great spectacle up in Galway last week and we've come out 2-0 losers.

Long, like most Premier Division managers, aspires to have his teams play attractive football but finds it isn't always possible to do so given how competitive each game is.

“We want to play the game in the right manner, we want to play fast, attractive football, but we can't always do that. We have to earn it tonight. We have to dig it out a little bit.

“We got the goal. The first goal is so important in this league – if you get your noses in front, in terms of the percentages and the stats we have, you tend to win games.”

The winning goal was scored, almost inevitably, by Kurtis Byrne. The former Dundalk striker has bagged eight goals this season, four of which have turned draws into wins.

Byrne, the son of former Bohs man Paul Byrne, has four in his last six games including a spectacular goal of the season contender against his former employers three weeks ago.

“I think he was a bit disappointed coming in at half-time because he hasn't overhead kicked it into the top corner or something like that!

“I just said to him, you should be really pleased – it doesn't matter how the ball crosses the line, that he has to score more of those goals in the six-yard box.

“He's a matchwinner on his day, and he had another couple of chances that he snatched at.”

Byrne's continued form in front of goal is to be all the more important for the fact Ismahil Akinade is unlikely to tog out for the Gypsies again this season through illness.

“Izzy has struggled with a virus going back five, six, seven weeks now so he hasn't been available for selection.

“It's unlikely that he'll feature between now and the end of the season.”