St Patrick's Athletic 0 - Bohemians 0Saint Patrick's Athletic have dropped their first league points of the season after Bohemians held them to a scoreless draw at Richmond Park, Inchicore. The home side were slightly fortunate to escape in a game of few clear-cut chances. As well as dropping points in the league for the first time, the Saints also drew a blank in front of goal for the first time in their eleven games this year. A well organised Bohs defence was always going to be difficult to break down with the wily Owen Heary pulling the strings. Heary's influence may have been hampered early on though, if referee Ian Stokes had opted to book him for a cynical arm across the face as Alan Kirby broke from midfield. In a fairly heated contest it would be the home team who collected more cautions in the game. An early Kirby header on goal had been saved by Brian Murphy while Bohs' Chris Kingsberry almost got in on the end of a hopeful long ball before losing out after a bounce in the area. Kevin Hunt fired over from Kingsberry's cross while John-Pail Kelly almost repeated his goal of last week. After picking out Crowe who in turn found Hunt, the tricky midfielder ran in but couldn't find the target from Hunt's lay-off. John Frost picked up the first booking of the game midway through the first period but performed well to flick the ball away from Kingsberry at the back post as the Gypsies again threatened. Crowe, who had a reasonably quiet first period, almost broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute. His delicate flick just clipped the wrong side of Ryan's upright before going wide. Joseph Ndo didn't return for the second half with both sides looking a little lost for ideas when going forward. Bohs boss Sean Connor briefly toyed with three men up front in the second period as well as charging Stephen Rice with a man marking role on Keith Fahey. Kirby almost got his first Saints league goal but March's player of the month saw his shot drift wide in early moments of the second half. Fahey also went close with a low driven free kick and whether Dessie Byrne knew too much about it or not, he still managed to flick the ball away from goal. A quick break from Bohs almost produced a goal but former Saint Byrne could only fire into the side netting, but would have been doing very well to get anything from a very acute angle. Dean Pooley became the first Bohs booking twenty minutes from the end after scything down Dave Mulcahy on his way to goal. Ryan in the home goal had a let-off in the dying minutes when he chased out for a ball he was never going to get. Fortunately for him, Crowe couldn't find his balance and the ball quick enough to slot home, seeing a tame cross cleared from the six yard area. The prolific Bohs striker came closer to scoring in the last couple of moments when his low shot was pushed away by Ryan. The Pats keeper did well seconds later to save down low from a driven Neale Fenn shot as Pats struggled to clear the resulting corner. Neither side will be too disheartened by a draw with the Saints staying top while Bohs remain right in the mix. © IrishFootballOnline.com
