Keith Long - 'It's more like a casualty ward in that dressing room'

Keith Long says the Bohemians dressing room more closely resembles an emergency room after winger Jamie Doyle became the latest to join the long-term injury list.

The Gypsies boss is already without midfielder Eoin Wearen for the season with a knee injury, while striker Izzy Akinade is yet to play after having his spleen removed.

With Akinade still weeks away from a return, Doyle's exit five minutes into Friday's 4-0 defeat at home to St Patrick's Athletic was regrettable, and Shane Supple joined him in the second half.

“It's more like a casualty ward inside in that dressing room,” Long told extratime.ie following the heavy defeat.

“You've got Eoin Wearen with a cruciate ligament injury, Izzy Akinade recovering from surgery, you've got Jamie Doyle coming off on crutches there tonight with ligament damage.

“I don't know what the extent of the injury is just now. Shane Supple coming off. He's got an impact injury there. Hopefully it's not too serious but we won't know until Monday.

“A lot of the substitutions that have been made in the games this year have been forced upon us due to injury – I haven't had to make too many tactical substitutions through the course of the campaign so far.”

Bohs had been on a run of form, picking up ten points from four matches after losing their opening two encounters to Derry City and Shamrock Rovers.

The turnaround in form had been partly linked to the clinical goalscoring prowess of striker Dinny Corcoran, but he too missed the Pats game with a knee complaint.

That meant another start up front for the diminutive Kaleem Simon, who battled well but was isolated in the absence of an aerial option in Doyle.

Pats dominated proceedings from start to finish but, with half-time approaching, the scores remained deadlocked, until Christy Fagan and two goals from Conan Byrne settled the tie.

While there was little anybody could do about Byrne's wonderstrike from inside his own half on the stroke of half-time, Long was frustrated by the manner of the goals conceded.

However, given they arrived into the game looking to make it five unbeaten, the Dubliner couldn't but be pleased by the attitude his depleted side, who were early tips for relegation, have shown.

“We've got to be positive – these are the players we're working with and the lads have been great.

“They've been working really hard and tonight was a bad night for us and we've got to make sure we bounce back, that our training is good during the week.

“[We have to be] positive around the group of players, and learn the lessons from tonight and try to put things right during the week.

“We've got to draw a line under it very quickly and hopefully respond in the right manner down in Sligo next week.

“It's a tough place to go obviously, so we've just got to try and stay positive. We were on a good run up until tonight – ten points out of 15 is still a decent return.

“Pats are a good side and they've got good players, so it's not all doom and gloom.”