Two teams with contrasting fortunes to date in the SSE Airtricity League are set to battle it out at Richmond Park tonight, as St. Patrick’s Athletic host Waterford FC.
Eight points separate the sides in the league table, as a mirror of the solid start of the season for Pat’s and the struggle for form on the Blues side.
Coming off a bittersweet points-sharing away tie to Dundalk; held in the last moments by Paddy Barrett as he cleared a goalball off the line, Saints run brightly at the top of the table shoulder-to-shoulder with Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers, eager to continue their 100% record behind closed doors.
It is a completely different show in the Southeast. Waterford visit the capital on the back of two defeats in a row, against Bohemians and Finn Harps, with three points so far confirmed against Derry City.
Their need to bounce back, after the shaky start has surely been the message sent by Kevin Sheedy to his charges in preparation for the next round, using the recent history playing in Richmond Park as a morale-booster as the Blues are coming from three wins from away meetings with Pat’s.
Stephen O’Donnell will surely be using the recent performances in the current season to motivate his troops, as he mentioned the need to be “at the best to win the game” speaking with the media channels.
“They’ve gone to the Ryan McBride Brandywell, which is a tough place to go and gotten all three points. We are going to have to be at our best to win the game like we are every game in this league so that’s what we will be aiming to do.”
Waterford’s week got shaken by the rumours of Brian Murphy’s possible walk out of the club, but he claimed this wasn’t true.
“Results have not gone our way recently which we are all disappointed by, I did discuss some things with the management leading up to Friday’s game, which will remain private. Anything outside of that is untrue”, he stated on social media.
Bernardo Santos
With previous experience on a top-tier sports newspaper and a media department of a former European Champion club, Bernardo also collaborates as a sports journalist and media editor at St. Patrick's Athletic.