Bohemians 0 Sligo Rovers 0: BY THE standards they've set themselves over the past year or two, a couple of league defeats, the sight of arch rivals Shamrock Rovers suddenly breathing down their necks at the top of a table and the inconvenience of a midweek cup replay at the Showgrounds might actually constitute a little bit of a crisis for Bohemians.

It would probably worry manager Pat Fenlon a little more, though, if his side’s first-half performance here had not been dramatically improved upon after the break, perhaps as a result of his half-time critique.

The transformation might also serve as a lesson to those among the home side’s fans who reckoned it was reasonable at the midway point to boo a team that, having won the double last year, is still chasing a first treble since Derry City’s 20 years ago.

Unless, of course, they reckon the better second half was down to them rather than the Bohemians boss. Even more measured supporters, though, might argue that they’ve come to expect much better of the league champions than they seemed capable of producing in the early exchanges and, following on from the league defeat by Sligo and last week’s loss to Bray, there was certainly already a sense that the Dubliners had lost just a bit of their lustre of late.

There was just one change here to the side that lost in the Showgrounds but little sense over the first 45 minutes that the same players were capable of making amends for their slip-up.

If anything, Rovers were the better side and they undoubtedly had the best chance early on with Gavin Peers, his side’s outstanding player over the course of the night, heading Romauld Boco’s ball from the right off the crossbar from close range with Brian Murphy well beaten.

The holders started with Joseph Ndo playing just off Glen Crowe up front, but there appeared to be a conscious attempt to compensate for the Cameroonian’s natural inclination to drop deep in search of the ball by pushing Paul Keegan well beyond what would have been his expected location in central midfield at times.

Nothing much came of the ploy with the midfielder rarely causing any serious concerns to a Sligo defence that worked tirelessly around the edges of its area.

There were a couple of half-chances from set pieces but Bohemians’ attempts to actually play the ball into the danger area didn’t yield anything of significance until the start of the second half.

At that stage, life started to become a good deal tougher for the visitors with a couple of quick-fire strikes by Ndo as well as a clever attempt by Brennan to lob Brush from just the right-hand side of the area signalling a much greater sense of urgency on the part of their hosts.

When Jason Byrne replaced Anto Murphy and Ndo slotted back into midfield on a permanent basis, they started to look more effective again and, having seemed composed and in control at the back for so long, Paul Cook’s men now had to ride their luck a little.

The home side came close to opening the scoring when Brennan was again sent racing clear five minutes short of the hour but Brush came well and the winger’s attempt to lift the ball over him clipped the outside of the post.

The goalkeeper was helpless minutes later when Mark Rossiter’s curling long-range effort came crashing back off the underside of the bar, while Brennan looked a little hopeless when Glenn Cronin found him in acres of space on the right, but the former Derry City player altered his stride so as to shoot with his left foot and then drove way over.

Sligo still managed to string the odd move together and had they more of an edge up front they might have grabbed something against the run of play. But there were times, such as when Byrne’s first close-range effort was blocked down by Brush and Keegan then pushed the rebound back to the striker whose follow-up shot clattered off Peers and behind, when only their tenacity kept them level.

The pace accelerated as the game hurtled towards its exciting end. Bohemians pressed with a hint of desperation for a winner and Rovers defended with much more than a hint of it as they battled to take the tie back to the Showgrounds on Tuesday night.

By the end, there were the inevitable appeals for a penalty from a crowd that could scarcely believe their side hadn’t won, but both sides enjoyed a deserved ovation at the final whistle.

BOHEMIANS: Murphy; Rossiter, Shelley, McGuinness, Powell; Murphy (Byrne, 52 mins), Keegan, Cronin, Brennan; Ndo; Crowe (Hughes, 77 mins).

SLIGO ROVERS: Brush; Boco, Peers, Camano, Kendrick; cash, Ventre, O’Grady, Doyle (Morrison, 75 mins); Cretaro, Blinkhorn.

Referee: A Kelly (Cork).