SSE Airtricity League Premier Division
St Patrick’s Athletic -v- Waterford FC
Friday, August 31, 2018
Kick Off: 7.45pm
Referee: Ben Connolly
Waterford FC return to league action this Friday with a trip to Richmond Park to face St Patrick’s Athletic in the Premier Division.
Last weekend, The Blues booked their place in the last eight of the FAI Cup with a 1-0 win away to Drogheda United. Bastien Hery struck early to secure the win.
The Blues’ last league game saw a tough 2-1 win away to Derry City in The Brandywell two weeks ago. Dessie Hutchinson and Gavan Holohan scored to give Alan Reynolds’ side the win.
The return to league action sees the gap to 4th place reduced and another important game for the Blues. Waterford FC and St Pat’s have played out some close matches this season already. The Blues have won both of the matches in the RSC 2-0 while St Pat’s picked up three points in the meeting of the sides in the capital.
Speaking ahead of the game, Blues manager Alan Reynolds said:
“[I was] very happy to progress to the quarter finals of the cup last weekend. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy but we scored early and did enough to see off a good Drogheda team.
“This week we’ve switched back the focus to the league and we know what we need to do. Liam [Buckley] will have his side ready for another tight game and we need to expect that – you won’t get much in Richmond Park.
“We’ll have Sander [Puri] back and Courtney [Duffus] too so that’s a positive but we’ll be missing a few who are still injured. But we’ll go there to play our game. We’ve got ourselves in a great position in the league so we’ll be fighting to stay there.”
TEAM NEWS: The Blues will be without Noel Hunt (groin), Cory Galvin (knee), Derek Daly (groin), John Martin (ankle) and Stanley Aborah (knee). Courtney Duffus and Sander Puri return. Garry Comerford is suspended.
