St Patrick’s Athletic – Sligo Rovers Preview: Buckley expects tight game from Bit o’ Red

By Daire Walsh

The Saints boss anticipates a tough encounter on their return to league action as they host Dave Robertson’s Sligo

St Patrick’s Athletic will be aiming to climb up the Premier Division table when they welcome Sligo Rovers to Richmond Park tonight.

The Saints currently finding themselves in eighth-place in the top-tier table, and following the postponement of their game with Finn Harps last Friday, they have not been in league action since September 6.

Despite having a free weekend, Buckley will be without the services of David Cawley, Keith Treacy and Jack Bayly through injury, but should welcome a fit-again Darren Dennehy back into his match-day squad.

The form of their opponents has improved significantly in the second-half of this season, and Pat’s supremo Liam Buckley expects that there will be little between the teams in their third meeting of 2016.

“Sligo have really picked up their form in the second half of the season. They got a good point the other night against Cork City and have been performing well recently,” Buckley remarked to stpatsfc.com.

“There was little between us in Inchicore earlier in the season, and only a goal separated us in the Showgrounds, so we expect another tight game that could be decided by a goal.”

Fifth-place Sligo placed a dent in Cork City’s title aspirations when they played out a 0-0 draw at The Showgrounds on Saturday evening, and they will be boosted by the return of Craig Roddan and Regan Donelon from suspension.

However, in addition to John Russell serving a ban against his former charges, goalkeeper Micheal Schlingermann will also sit out the game with an ankle injury.

Just four points separate Sligo from Galway United in ninth, and Rovers manager Dave Robertson acknowledges that these are the kind of games that will determine where they finish at the end of the current campaign.

“Games like this will have a massive bearing on where we finish at the end of the season,” Robertson explained to sligorovers.com.

“We have looked at what our target are for the remainder of the season and we will be aiming to get the maximum points that we can get.”