General
- Thursday April 10th, 2014 @ 16:22
Team News: Pat's Vs Rovers
Richmond Park plays host to Friday's big Dublin derby as Shamrock travel to Inchicore to play Liam Buckley's St Patrick's Athletic side, kick-off 7.45pm.
Having suffered heavy defeats last week, both Dublin sides bounced back with wins last Monday – the Saints claiming a good 3-1 away win against Bray Wanderers, while the Hoops saw off UCD with a 2-0 home win.
In league matches between the sides last season, little separated the sides overall as both secured a single victory, while the sides played out a scoreless draw in the Richmond Park clash last May.
Ahead of Friday's game, Saints' midfielder James Chambers spoke to stpatsfc.com of the importance of the Saints' victory in Bray which saw the Saints end a four game run without a win thanks to goals from Christy Fagan, Lee Lynch and Chris Forrester.
“First and foremost, it was good to put three points on the board on Monday as we've had an awful lot of draws so far. We wanted to bounce back from the defeat against Dundalk as we were all hurting, so I think we put on a performance on Monday,” Chambers said.
“We were a little bit sloppy with giving a goal away, but we went down the other end and got a third so there's a good atmosphere in the squad as we just wanted to bounce back so we're delighted to have done that.
Friday's visit of Shamrock Rovers to take on the SSE Airtricity League champions also signifies the first meeting between the sides since Chambers re-joined the Saints following a season with the Hoops. The 27 year old midfielder admitted to looking forward to the clash.
“Yeah after getting the Bray win under our belts, it's just a case of going again on Friday. It's another big game for us and it's a good week to be looking forward to,” Chambers added, referring to the Saints'second leg clash with Sligo Rovers on Monday in the Setanta Sports Cup semi-final.
In team news, Saints' manager Liam Buckley reports that Ken Oman is close to making a return to full fitness, however he will undergo a fitness test before the game, while Rene Gilmartin continues to recover from a hamstring strain.
Otherwise midfielders Killian Brennan and Greg Bolger are available once more having served suspensions for their sending offs in the Saints' defeat to Dundalk last week.
“We're looking to follow up our win against Bray with another three points on Friday,” Buckley told stpatsfc.com when talking about the clash with the Hoops.
“We put in a good performance against Bray and I was really happy with the standard who put in for the 90 minutes. The players have worked really hard since pre-season, so I'm pleased that they got the result they deserved after again putting in a huge effort. If we can produce that level again on Friday, we'll give ourselves a great chance of getting a result.”
