UCD vs Bohemians

The end of the season is nearly upon us and whilst it’s all done and dusted at the top of the Premier League table, it’s far from over at the bottom end. With three games to go, UCD find themselves staring into the face of relegation as they need nothing short of a miracle if they are to survive.

With games against Bohemians, St Patricks Athletic and Galway United, they will need to aim for maximum points to avoid the drop. Even with full points from Bohs and Pats, losing to Galway will see the Students go down.

Going into the game Pete Mahon will have to do without Alan Mahon and Alan McNally who are both suspended for the clash. The team are coming off the back of a 2-0 loss against Cobh, but have taken full points from Drogheda and earned a 1-1 draw from Shamrock Rovers, and with so much at stake for the Students, a performance to match the importance of the fixture will be demanded by Mahon.

With a Cup Final to look forward to and the league sown up, it would be understandable for Bohs to take the foot off the pedal for this clash, but manager Pat Fenlon has no intention of this happening.

He said," We will not be dropping our standards in any of our remaining league games. There will be no break for the squad until the season is over. I will still be picking a strong side against UCD, primarily because I want to keep our run going but we also have to be fair to the rest of the league. It is a big night for our opponents. It is probably fair to say that they have to win to have any reasonable chance of staying up. UCD will not give up without a fight and I expect a very tough game as a result. This will be like any other game. I will pick a team to win the game. I have used the full strength of the squad over the season and whatever team takes the field will be a competitive one."

John Paul Kelly is Bohemians only injury going into the clash and with no suspensions, Fenlon has a full strength squad to pick from. Not the news UCD fans will want to hear.

The game kicks off at 19:45 in Belfield.

Extratime Prediction: UCD may be fighting for their Premier League existence, but if Fenlon is true to his word and plays a full strength team, we think UCD will lose by 2 goals to 1.