Pat Scully has criticised his side's performance despite the fact Monday's win over UCD moved Shamrock Rovers back to within three points of league leaders Drogheda United.

Rovers are perched in third and once again defied their critics who thought their remarkable revival would run its course.

While that can still happen, of course, Rovers have consistently proved their worth in recent weeks and as it stands they are unbeaten in eight league games and are key figures in the title shake-up.

Ger Rowe and Tadhg Purcell's second half goals secured a 2-0 win at Tolka Park but UCD manager Pete Mahon believes those strikes "came against the run of play".

While happy with the points gained, Scully feels his side still has plenty to learn.  A similar performance against second-placed St Patrick's Athletic next Monday, he says, will not go unpunished.

"We didn't play well at all," the manager said. "We're on a good run but I don't think that you can play fantastically well all the time and against UCD I thought we were very, very poor.

"Our passing was very, very poor," he added. "But David Tyrrell did show why we wanted him so badly. Still, it's very difficult to look at anyone and say they've done their job to a satisfactory level.

"We've got the three points and we'll take them but that performance will not be good enough next week. There are challenges ahead of us and performances like that will not be good enough."

Mahon felt UCD - eighth in the table - deserved more from the game but conceded his side still lacked a touch of quality.

"I certainly thought we played the football," he said. "Where we fell down was our failure to deal with the long ball and Rovers' physicality.

"They don't play with the tradition you'd associate with Shamrock Rovers," he added. "They get the ball early and quickly. They work very hard, that's a credit to the manager.

"We passed it well but we're lacking that bit of quality that we need at this level when we are on top."