Stephen Bradley spoke to shamrockrovers.ie ahead of the trip to Vienna. The match kicks off at 8pm Irish time on Thursday, and will be covered on Premier Sports.

It seems like an eternity since we defeated TNS in our last UEFA Conference League game three weeks ago. Everyone had some time off so how was the break for everyone and how’s the mood in camp ahead of travelling to Vienna?

“The mood is good. I think it was important we all had some time off after that TNS game. We all had that time off, we were back in, played two games last week against HJK Helsinki and training has gone well. So it’s been brilliant to be back in training and getting ready for big games at this time of the year.”

We had an “official” friendly against HJK Helsinki in Tallaght last Thursday, losing 2-0. How was the second game behind closed doors (HJK won 4-0) the next day and were you happy the two games achieved their objective?

“It was all about getting good minutes into legs and making sure we kept a level of fitness up. There was a lot of change to both of our teams. We had picked up a few knocks that we didn’t take any risks with. Markus Poom and Pico Lopes had been away on international duty and played more minutes than we thought so we had to leave them out also. So both selections were a lot younger than we expected but that’s fine. It was actually good to see some of the younger players in the mix against good opposition so we had two good games. We’re very thankful to HJK Helsinki for coming over and playing us and hopefully we can play them again in February.”

You mentioned above the numerous younger lads, who you used in both games against HJK Helsinki. How did they feel about facing quality European opposition last week and were you pleased how they performed?

“It’s great learning for them so soon in their development. It shows them what they’re doing well and also where they need to improve which is great for them and for us. There were some really strong performances from the young boys, I thought young Matt Britton was excellent and both keepers, Alex Noonan and Todd Bazunu played a part also which was really good to see. We really like both of them so it was good to see them all in that environment.”

You’d felt after Dylan Watts won the POTY award at Rovers he’d been the best player in the country this year. His Player of the Year award from his peers in the PFAI awards last weekend bore that out, it’s been an incredible season for Dylan.

“Yes it has been and and I’m delighted for Dylan. I said before if our collective performances had been better domestically, I think Dylan would have got a lot more recognition throughout the year. But it’s great that his peers have recognised how good he’s been. It’s what we’ve seen, and as this award proves, he’s been the best player in the country and long may that continue. Dylan is at a good age, he’s maturing and he’s been top class for us.”

We’ve seven points out of nine in the Conference league. Did our many European games this season leading up to the league stage and our experience and lessons of two years ago contribute to our excellent showing so far?

“Definitely. I think Europe is difficult, in balancing European and domestic football. I think you see that with the best teams in Europe. It took us a bit of adjusting. But with all those European games throughout the years, it does give you invaluable experience and know-how and understanding about what you need. So it has definitely helped us towards how we’ve performed in Europe this year. In the main, we’ve performed really well, we did have one or two games that got away from us for different reasons but I think overall we’ve performed really well. Every team we’ve played qualified for the league stages, all are doing well in each competition so I think that shows the level we’ve played against. So I’m really happy at where we are.”

So we get ready for a massive away game against Rapid Vienna. They’re an experienced and established force at European level. How big is our task in this game?

It’s a very difficult game, there’s no doubt about that. Rapid is a big club, a big team with a big tradition. We know they have some really good players when you watch them, so we know it’s a difficult game. But we’ve played a lot of top teams, so we’ll have no fear and we’ll go with a gameplan. Obviously we have to respect what they’re good at but at the same time, when we get our times in the game, we’ll see can we hurt them and that will be the aim.”

Rapid are fourth in the Conference League standings with three wins out of three, what is their football style or set up and what are their main strengths we need to nullify?

“They have a really clear identity in what they try to do. They’re a possession-based team, a lot of movement and rotation in the final third of the pitch. They try and penetrate at every opportunity so they’re a good team with good players, but that’s standard at this level of competition. We’ll give them the respect that they deserve, but we’ll do everything possible to get something out of the game.”

Have we any players injured for the Rapid game?

“As I’ve said recently, Rory Gaffney will be out until next season. Danny Mandroiu and Seán Hoare remain out. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll see Aaron McEneff again this season. He came off last week against HJK, it didn’t look bad or feel bad, but the scan is telling us different. So it’s just been one of those seasons for Aaron, been stop/start and he came with a big injury from Australia so he’s been trying to play catch-up. The best decision now is just to shut him down and get ready for pre-season. Aaron Greene should be ok, he’s a bit sore but should be fine. It may be a bit early for Graham Burke, we’ll see.  He’ll train in Vienna and we’ll see how he is then.”