Bray Wanderers -v- St. Patrick's Athletic
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BRAY WANDERERS
Pat Devlin’s Bray Wanderers will be hoping to extend their unbeaten run and fine league form to five games when they welcome high flying St. Patrick’s Athletic to the Carlisle Grounds on Friday evening.
After a shaky start to the season, the Seagulls have lost just twice in their last nine league games, a run of form which has seen them rise to 7th and silence any talk of becoming embroiled in a relegation battle. Having said that, Pat Devlin’s men have won just once on front of their fans all season and will be looking to rectify their home form in the second series of games. Bray opened their campaign with a narrow 1-0 defeat in Inchicore but since then they have turned the tables and have looked solid at the back and dangerous going forward mainly thanks to the return of veteran Jason Byrne.
The 34 year old has found the net on eight occasions already this season and along with Kieran “Marty” Waters are a threat to any defence. One of the main reasons for Bray’s recent good form has been the consistency in Pat Devlin’s team selection and the Bray director of football has a full squad to pick from for the visit of St. Pats. The only changes to last week’s squad which won in Dundalk is the addition of Shane O’Connor and Sean Hurley.
Devlin knows his side will face a stiff challenge on Friday evening.
"It’s a tough one. St. Pats are one of the best teams in the League, it’s certainly a challenge and it’s a challenge we are looking forward to".
ST. PATRICK’S ATHLETIC
The Inchicore club are currently six points behind leaders Sligo Rovers and despite being unbeaten, many will admit that St. Pats haven’t hit full throttle this season. We have seen glimpses of their ability, most notably the 5-1 home win over Shamrock Rovers but draws have meant they have slipped behind the Bit o’ Red.
Liam Buckley will be hoping that his side can close the gap on Sligo and indeed pull away from the likes of Shamrock Rovers and Drogheda who are snapping at their heels with only their second away victory of the season on Friday evening. They had drawn their first four games away from Richmond Park until an impressive 2-0 victory at the Brandywell.
The visitors will be boosted by the return of Greg Bolger who returns from a one game suspension but James Chambers and Mark Rossiter remain side-lined and the game comes a little too early for Stephen O’Flynn who continues to recover from a thigh strain. Former Bray winger Jake Kelly returns to the Carlisle Grounds for the first time since departing for Inchicore during the winter.
He told stpatsfc.com he is looking forward to returning but is fully focused on the task in hand. "It’ll be a bit strange walking into the away dressing room on Friday as I played over 100 games over four seasons for the club. But I’m a Pats man now though, and we know it’ll be hard to go to Bray as they’ve been getting some good results lately, but we’re going there to win."
The Super Saints had the better of the fixtures between the two sides but Buckley is taking nothing for granted; "Bray gave us a really tough game at the start of the year, we know they’ll be strong as Pat always has them fired up when they play at home. "They were very good in their last two home games to Bohs and Shamrock Rovers, and before that they were very unlucky to lose 2-1 to Sligo.
"Last week they had a good win against Dundalk, with players like Jason Byrne and Kieran Marty Waters particularly playing well."
Referee: Richie Winter
MATCH STATS
St. Patrick's Athletic have kept a clean sheet in their last four matches against Bray Wanderers in all competitions.
There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 14 of Bray Wanderers’ last 15 home games in Airtricity League.
Of the last ten meetings, St. Pats have the upper hand winning eight times to Bray's two victories.
St. Patrick's Athletic are undefeated in their last 11 matches in Airtricity League.
BETTING
Bray 4/1; Draw 5/2; St.Patrick’s Athletic 4/6
PREDICTION
It’s a tough one to call with Bray’s poor home form coupled with Pats’ lack of wins away from Inchicore but Liam Buckley’s men should have enough to see off the challenge of the home side. 2-1 Pats
Bray Wanderers Injury News: None
Bray Wanderers Suspension News: None
St. Patrick’s Athletic Injury News: James Chambers, Mark Rossiter, Stephen O’Flynn
St. Patrick’s Athletic Suspension News: None
