League Preview: Bohemians -v- St. Patrick's Athletic

BOHEMIANS

Bohemians welcome the visit of St. Patrick’s Athletic to Dalymount Park for this mouth-watering Dublin derby on Friday night.

Bohs are still in with a mathematical chance of catching St. Pat’s in the race for fourth place but anything less than a win for the Gypsies will mean that their faint hopes will have all but evaporated.

Bohs boss, Keith Long, was keen to emphasise the importance of focusing on one game at a time telling www.bohemiansfc.ie, “All we can do is try to and win the game on Friday night, which won’t be easy, and take care of our own performances over the remaining four games”.

The pressure is very much on the Gypsies to win all four matches to be in with a chance of claiming a Europa League spot for next season at the expense of their local rivals.

Last week, Bohs were unlucky to be knocked out of the Leinster Senior Cup following a penalty shoot-out with Shamrock Rovers. Bohs have two difficult away assignments against relegation threatened Sligo Rovers and Derry City as well as a tricky home match against high flying Cork City to come and the enormity of their task cannot be underestimated.

ST. PATRICK’S ATHLETIC

St. Patrick’s Athletic go into this game in the knowledge that a precious away win will see them take a significant step towards securing a place in Europe next season with four games to spare.

Pat’s manager, Liam Buckley, is not taking this game lightly and expects a tough challenge telling www.stpatsfc.com, “We’ve had two tough games against Bohemians this year, and Friday will be no different. We’ll have a good crowd behind us as we always do so hopefully we can put in a performance similar to the one in Longford the last day and get the three points”.

Buckley’s men stopped the rot last time out with a comprehensive 3-0 win over Longford Town. St. Pat’s will be aiming to get the job done on Friday night despite the luxury of having a game in hand and three home games at Richmond Park to come before a tough final day trip to Galway who may well be still embroiled in a relegation battle.

Referee: Robert Harvey

MATCH FACTS

St. Pat’s have taken maximum points in the two previous league encounters with a narrow 0-1 victory in the first meeting at Dalymount Park thanks to winning goal from Ciaran Kilduff and eventually running out 3-1 winners in a bruising encounter at Richmond Park in June.

Bohs have a rotten record in the league against their Dublin rivals having not managed a win in their last 15 games against the Inchicore side stretching back as far as October 2010. The Gypsies have been struggling to win lately with four draws in as many games while St. Pat’s returned to winning ways last week against Longford after a run of four straight league defeats.

St. Pat’s have struggled to keep a clean sheet with only in their last five games and have conceded eleven goals in the process while Bohs have been more miserly having shifted nine goals in their last five.

BETTING

Bohemians 5/2 Draw 12/5 St. Patrick’s Athletic 21/20

PREDICTION

Bohemians 2-2 St. Patrick’s Athletic

Bohemians

Suspensions:  None

Doubtful: None

Injured:  James O’Brien (ankle), Derek Prendergast (calf), Stephen Best (thigh), Jason Caffrey (illness)

St. Patrick’s Athletic

Suspensions:  Kenny Browne, Sean Hoare, Greg Bolger

Doubtful:  None

Injured: Brendan Clarke (broken finger)

Unavailable: Lee Desmond (international duty Ireland under 21’s)