General
- Thursday October 16th, 2014 @ 20:54
Team News: ST PAT'S V Athlone
St Patrick's Athletic entertain Athlone Town on Friday night in Richmond Park in the club's final SSE Airtricity League home fixture.
The Saints need a point to ensure that they secure Europa League football next season, while a win would leave the Saints with the best home record in the SSE Airtricity League in 2014 – Pat's currently leading the way with 12 wins and two draws (38 points).
By contrast, Athlone Town travel to Inchicore in search of the three points in their fight to avoid relegation, with former Saints' league winner Keith Long currently in charge of Athlone.
In team news, the Saints are without the services of Conor McCormack who serves a one match suspension, however James Chambers returns to Liam Buckley's squad having served a one match ban in last week's 3-2 away win against Drogheda United.
Otherwise the Saints' manager is hopeful of having a full squad available for selection.
“Last week was a good win for us. The game wasn't going our way, but the lads fought hard till the end and got their reward.
We'll have to improve on parts of our game so we'll look to put in a good performance on Friday, though Athlone will be fighting for their lives so we know it will be a tough game.”
“While a point would do us, we really want to win our final game in Richmond and end on a high,” Saints' skipper Ger O'Brien told stpatsfc.com.
“We've been very strong at home all season, so it would be disappointing not to finish with a win, especially for our supporters who have been great in getting behind us all season.”
“That said though, we know Athlone will be tough as they're looking to stay up and be in the Premier Division next season.
They'll be fighting for every ball and looking to get in front from the off. We know we'll have to put in a good performance if we're to get the three points.
