IRN-BRU Cup Preview: Sligo Rovers -v- Falkirk

SLIGO ROVERS

Sligo Rovers welcome Scottish side Falkirk to the Showgrounds on Saturday night (kick-off 7.45pm) as they play their first ever game in the IRN-BRU Scottish Challenge Cup.

The Bit o' Red have been frustrated by having no game for two weeks since their morale-boosting win over Cork City at Turner's Cross – a result that lifted them out of the relegation zone.

While league survival will have to remain their firm focus, they will be quitely confident as they host the Scottish Championship side.

“There are differing factors at play which is wanting to play your strongest team available and also mindful of the players we have and have not available for that Finn Harps game,” manager Gerard Lyttle told the club's official website.

“We are going four weeks without a league game which is very difficult for everyone. We want to prepare for that game in the best way we can, we have to protect our players that our struggling and we also want to do well in this game so all of those will be considered.

“This game is important to keep us fresh, ticking over and give our training a consequence because when you've got four weeks of not having that game at the end of week, it becomes a problem.

"We want to win this game and build on that performance in Cork. It's so frustrating we haven't been able to do yet but we have to cope with it and to play a strong opposition in a Cup game is one positive.

"Make no mistake we are playing a good side. They haven't had the results early in the season but from watching them and speaking to Queen of the South manager Gary Naysmith, they are just not firing yet and I think will be higher up that table in Scotland at the end of the season.

"Queen of the South beat them 4-1 in their recent meeting but when I looked back I think everything dropped for them on that occasion. They were clinical and punished Falkirk.

“We want to find that display that can see us do something similar and see if it can take us to the next round."

FALKIRK

Falkirk travel to Sligo as they look to set aside their poor start to the league season – they've lost three of their opening four games – and claim an away scalp.

The Bairns' most recent result was a 4-1 home defeat to Queen of the South, a result that leaves them second from bottom in Scotland's second tier.

“We made a poor start to the league, but it’s all about sticking together and working hard to put things right,” Falkirk manager Peter Houston told the club's website.

“I can’t legislate for the form of some players. We’ve shown them where they went wrong and we’ve spoke about how we’ve not played to the standards they’d set in previous years.

“After last Saturday I was wanting a league game right away, but in hindsight and now looking forward to the Sligo game I think it’s a good thing.

“It takes a bit of pressure off the players, because I can see some of them looking a bit short on confidence. It’s up to us (the coaching staff) to get the confidence back up.

“Sligo will be a very tough match. Every time we went to Ireland for pre-season we’ve had difficult matches.

“They’re mid season as well so they’ll be fit. It looks a good surface and we’ve got footage of them so we’ll go through that with the players.

“We’ll fly out on Saturday morning and get into the hotel to prepare and focus properly. It’s important we start winning football matches and get back into the habit of it.

“You can get into a rut where you continually don’t win and that’s certainly something we’re conscious of.

“We have a good bunch of players, for some reason or another the last three or four games their confidence has went down, we have to build them up and work hard.

“Talk is cheap, we have to implement things on the park. We don’t want to be chasing the game. Let’s take the match to them and try to get in front.”

Referee: Keith Kennedy

MATCH STATS

This is the first ever meeting between the both sides.

This match is the first match of a collaboration between the FAI and the SPL which will see teams face each other in the Scottish Challenge Cup.

If Raffaele Cretaro plays tonight he will have appeared in every competition Sligo Rovers have played in.

BETTING

Sligo Rovers 6/5; Draw 12/5; Falkirk 7/4.

PREDICTION

Sligo Rovers 0-2 Falkirk

Sligo Rovers:

Injured: None.

Doubtful: John Russell, Michael Schlingermann.

Suspended: None.

Falkirk:

Injured: Myles Hippolyte, Peter Grant and Joe McKee, Lewis Kidd, Liam Henderson.

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: None.