St. Patrick's Athletic -v- Bray Wanderers

• Eoin Manning
• Fri, Oct 16 2009


Bray Wanderers travel to Richmond Park on Friday night to take on St.Patrick’s Athletic desperate for a win that would lift them out of the automatic relegation position in League of Ireland Premier Division table (Kick Off 7:45 pm).

Meanwhile, St.Pat’s have serious relegation fears of their own thanks to Sligo Rovers recent form which has left Pete Mahon’s men sitting in the second relegation play off place (eighth).

Bray are currently just two places below their weekend hosts but know the eight points which separate the clubs is unlikely to be overhauled given the sparse number of games that remain in the current campaign.

That is not to say that The Seagulls will be holding back come kick off time, however, as the incentive of displacing ninth-placed Drogheda United will be motivation enough, knowing The Drogs face the daunting task of a trip to Tallaght to take on league leaders Shamrock Rovers on Saturday night.

The Saints, last year’s runners-up, have drifted through the current season, garnering impressive results on some occasions and particularly inept ones on others, now have no choice but to accept the challenge the Bit ‘o’ Red have handed them and start winning the games they require to escape the dreaded relegation play-offs.

Things on the injury front have eased somewhat for the Inchicore side compared to the misfortune they were forced to endure earlier in the campaign but still have doubts over Jason Gavin (groin) and Noel Haverty (hamstring) for the Friday night game, while midfielder Stuart Byrne is suspended.

Caretaker boss Mahon is only too aware that it is wins his team need if they are to somehow manage to pip Sligo to seventh place: “At this stage in the season it’s all about winning. People won’t remember the performance. Of course we want to go out and play well in every game but we have to ensure we get the right result at the end of it.”

Despite targeting a win Mahon knows his side will have to show plenty of fight to take anything from the encounter against Eddie Gormley’s effervescent outfit: “Bray have now come within two points of Drogheda, they’ve only three games left after this one, so they’ll be throwing everything at us. It was a tough game out at Bray two weeks ago and we can expect more of the same.”

Pat’s will be hoping they can pick enough points between now and the end of the season to ensure they avoid the possibility of meeting Bray again in the relegation play-offs, while Bray would be overjoyed by the prospect; knowing it had meant they had avoided finishing last.

Extratime.ie Prediction: St. Pat's 2 -1 Bray