General
- Thursday February 20th, 2020 @ 11:46
TEAM NEWS: Sligo Rovers Vs Saints (Friday, 7.45)
St Patrick's Athletic make the trip west on Friday night when they face Sligo Rovers in the SSE Airtricity League (kick-off 7.45pm).
Both the Bit O'Red and the Saints head into the game off the back of defeats in the opening weekend of the 2020 League of Ireland season. The Saints went down to a 1-0 defeat at home to Waterford FC, while Sligo were also edged out 1-0 away to Finn Harps.
Saints' head coach Stephen O'Donnell reports a clean bill of health heading into the game and spoke to stpatsfc.com about the upcoming busy schedule which starts with a difficult game in the Showgrounds.
"It's a busy week in the sense that we play Friday, Monday and then Friday again. We play Sligo, and then you're quickly moving into the other two games in the space of a week so it's going to be a very busy schedule so it is important to get a good platform and a good structure within the week. It's important to get a good training week in as there won't be much training in between the games as there will be a lot of recovery after each game.
"But first and foremost we have Sligo away. It's always a tough place to go and you never get anything easy, but we are really looking forward to the game."
For Saints' midfielder Billy King, the Sligo game is an opportunity to bounce back from the opening weekend defeat to Waterford, and the former Scotland under 21 international is keen help the Saints to victory.
"The Waterford game was a bit hectic at the start as the ball was a bit like pinball. But I felt in the second half I came into it. I'm still getting used to playing with the other boys a bit as I'm learning about their games and what they like to do. But I was disappointed that I never got a goal as I had two good chances. All the boys were disappointed with the result but we need to pick ourselves up and go again on Friday."
Kick-off in the Showgrounds against Sligo Rovers is 7.45pm and St Pat's supporters can get their tickets from the ground on the night with tickets priced 15 for adult, 10 for students/OAP's and 5 for children
