EA Sports Cup Preview: St. Patrick's Athletic -v- Bray Wanderers

Easter Monday in Inchicore sees the holders St Patrick’s Athletic host a confident Bray Wanderers side in the Second Round of the EA Sports Cup. (KO 5:00 PM)

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC

The Saints are aiming to continue their run in the EA Sports Cup which has seen them win the past two competitions and last year saw them defeat the Seagulls in the Quarter-Finals 3-2 after extra-time.

The 2013 champions have only won two games and have registered only eight points from a possible twenty-seven so far.

Last Friday night though, they had another disappointing result as they drew 1-1 at fellow strugglers Galway United in the league. A first-half Rory Feely header wasn’t enough for the win as a late penalty by Ronan Murray restored parity for the home side.

"It's an important game for us as we've won this EA Sports Cup title the last two seasons and it's important for us moving forward," Saints' manager Liam Buckley told stpatsfc.com. 

"We'd like to win the game as it'll build confidence and also create a bit of momentum moving on as we've only lost one out of the last five."

Buckley’s side beat opponents Bray already in a cup competition this campaign, albeit in a Leinster Senior Cup fixture. He admits knows his side are coming up against a completely different side since the 4-0 win in January.

But, rather crucially, Pats lost 1-2 in Richmond Park on the opening night of the season when the last time the side’s met. Goals from Ex-Saint Anto Flood and Gary McCabe succumbed The Saints to an opening night defeat.

So the manager and the club will want to forget about their poor league form putting in a decent outing and progressing to the next round against The Seagulls.

Ahead of Monday evening’s game, Buckley is anticipating a tough game against their in-form counterparts.

“We did well against Bray in pre-season in the Leinster Senior Cup, but that said in the league in Richmond Park, they beat us in a game with little between us. When they moved the ball forward quickly, we didn't deal with it well at all so we will have to be better at coping with that on Monday evening.

"Be it EA Sports Cup, Leinster Senior Cup - it doesn't matter what competition it is, we’ll go out to win every game and wins breed confidence in the group. We need to stay focused on every game - I still feel we're a little bit frantic from our general play, but all the signs are that we have a good team."

Buckley will make a late check on a number of players involved last Friday, while Darren Dennehy and Christy Fagan remain out with ankle and hamstring injuries.

BRAY WANDERERS

The Seagulls come into this cup game in spectacular form, winning their last four games consecutively, placing themselves third in the table in the process.

They are impressive feats in their own right but the most impressive was the slaying of league holders Dundalk in their own back yard last Friday night.

A Gary McCabe brace and a Ryan Brennan strike did the damage for the Wicklow men, in one of the biggest upsets of the season so far.

In last year’s EA Sports Cup run, they beat UCD 2-0 in the First Round, they beat Bluebell United 4-2 AET but lost out 2-3 by tonight’s opposition at the Carlisle Grounds in the Third Round.

Can Bray maintain their excellent start to their season and defeat St Patrick’s Athletic again in the same venue? It remains to be seen as Pats have won this competition for the last two years so they won’t roll over easily but based on form Bray would be favourites.

As everyone knows though, league form goes out the window in cup games so expect fireworks in Richmond on Monday night.

Referee: Robert Rogers

MATCH FACTS

Bray have won six out of the last nine meetings of the sides in all competitions.

The sides have met each other competitively 43 times; Pats winning 28 times to Bray's 11. There’s been four stalemates played out between the pair.

There has been an average of 2.8 goals scored per game in this fixture.

St. Pats lost as many games as they won at Richmond Park last season. Their home form in 2016 consisted of 7 wins, 7 losses and 3 draws.

Bray finished a point above St. Pats last season despite two wins in their opening 16 Premier Division games.

Combined, Christy Fagan and Dylan Connolly scored 15 league goals last season. League top scorer Sean Maguire, meanwhile, scored 18.

MATCH BETTING

St Patrick’s Athletic 19/10;  Draw; 23/10; Bray Wanderers 13/10

PREDICTION

St Patricks Athletic 1-1 Bray Wanderers

St Patrick’s Athletic

Injured: Darren Dennehy (ankle), Christy Fagan (hamstring)

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

BrayWanderers

Injured: Unknown

Doubtful: Unknown

Suspended: Unknown