General
- Friday April 20th, 2018 @ 18:36
Team News: Sligo Vs Saints
St Patrick's Athletic make the trip west to face Sligo Rovers in the Showgrounds on Saturday evening (kick-off 7.30pm).
The Saints will be looking to maintain their good form shown last Monday when they defeated Waterford FC 1-0 at home in Richmond Park thanks to a first goal in St Pat's colours for midfielder Ryan Brennan.
"I was pleased with the result on Monday against Waterford. We can see improvements in the level of our performances over recent weeks and that comes from work in training and everyone working hard," Buckley told stpatsfc.com.
Looking ahead to the prospect of facing the Bit O'Red, the Pat's manager outlined that another good performance from his players would be required if they were to pick up points on Saturday.
"We've seen a good bit of Sligo lately and I have been impressed with their play. They are probably very similar to us in that they have been improving over the last weeks, and they were only 10 or 15 minutes away from picking up a point down in Cork during the week. I am sure that Gerard Lyttle will have them well prepared and aiming for a win."
In team news, Saints' manager Liam Buckley will make a late call on several players following two games in the last week.
The 1-0 win over Waterford on Monday saw Pat's pick up a fifth clean sheet of the league season to date and for defender Lee Desmond, the defensive effort from the whole team from one to eleven on the field is a source of pride.
"It is great that we have kept the few clean sheets this season to date as it gives everyone confidence to know that we can keep it tight both home and away. We've been lucky to have everyone fit in defence and there is a strong group of seven or eight defenders so the competition for places keeps us all on our toes."
Having not played Sligo Rovers yet this season, Desmond admits that the Saints are going to become very familiar with the Bit O'Red with two fixtures coming up in quick succession. For the Dubliner though, the aim is to try and get an away win in the first of the matches between the sides.
"With two games coming up against Sligo, it gives us the chance to stay ahead of them in the table and try to move up a bit. We want to be looking to climb the table and not be looking behind us so hopefully we can pick a result on Saturday against Sligo."
