19.45 9 Jul 2015 -
Referee:
Europa League Preview: St Patrick's Athletic -v- Skonto Riga
- Macdara Ferris
- Thu, Jul 09 2015
ST. PATRICK’S ATHLETIC
European football returns to Richmond Park on Tuesday with the Saints having the difficult task of looking to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Skonto Riga. Pat’s do at least have a crucial away goal and that should provide them with the platform to progress past the Latvian visitors and into the second qualifying round of the Europa League – the winners will likely face Hungarian side Debreceni who lead FK Sutjeska of Montenagro 3-0 after their first leg.
Pat’s took the lead in Riga last week when Aaron Greene, after taking Chris Forrester’s precise pass over the top on 21 minutes, rifled the ball home with his left foot into the top corner of the net (see here). However, Skonto scored twice, with the winner coming in the 65th minute to the Latvian side the one goal lead that the visitors bring to Inchicore.
Greene’s goal was his second strike in three European starts, with both goals scored against Baltic opposition. He found the back of the net in Sligo Rovers’ 4-0 win last year over FK Banga from Lithuania.
“The main thing for us is that we are still in the tie,” said Aaron Greene when he spoke about the second leg to Extratime on our latest Sportscast (listen back here). “Richmond Park is a hard place to come to. There is the tight pitch. The crowd are really on top of you and they are very vocal fans. We know what we need to do; replicate what we did going forward and stamp more of an authority on our defensive work as a team.
“They have three or four players that we really need to keep a close eye on. We need to be switched on. We do have the capability of getting us over the line."
St. Pat’s manager Liam Buckley, like Greene, thinks that the home support will play a big part in Thursday night’s game. “If we can get the crowd behind us on Thursday night, that could be the difference between getting through and not,” said Buckley speaking to stpatsfc.com
“Hopefully the Pat’s supporters will make it out to the game in big numbers, as if we can have a capacity Richmond Park behind the players that will be massive for us.
“We’ve had some great nights as a club in Richmond Park in European competition. For me, our win over Široki Brijeg three years ago was a magical night, and the crowd really helped us get over the line.
“Last week was a very tough game. We played really well in the first half, but unfortunately went in level at the break. We picked up a few knocks and had to use up all of our substitutes so that wasn’t ideal either, but we got the away goal which could prove crucial at the end of this tie.”
Saints midfielder Conan Byrne acknowledged his team will need to improve if they are to overcome the Latvian visitors. “Last week we were a bit poor in a few situations so we’ve worked hard in training since we got back from Riga to put those things right,” he said talking to stpatsfc.com. “Hopefully we’ll see the benefit of that on Thursday night. They’re a good side and have one or two very impressive technical players, so we’ll need to perform well to turn things around.
“However we are confident in our own ability and know that if we play to our potential, and with our record in Richmond Park and with the crowd behind us, we are capable of getting the result we need.”
SKONTO RIGA
Skonto Riga are heavyweights of Latvian football but having won the league title an incredible 14 years in a row from 1991 to 2004, recent years haven’t been as kind to the club. They last won league in 2010 and they return to Europe after a year’s absence after overcoming significant financial difficulties. They currently sit third in the eight team Virsliga top division.
Their Georgian manager Tamaz Pertia had his team play with three at the back in the first leg and they found themselves 1-0 down after 21 minutes when Aaron Green put the Saints in front. They got back on level terms before the break thanks to Latvian international Arturs Karasausks, with the winner coming in the 65th minute from Vladislavs Gutkovskis.
The Skonto coach speaking to skontofc.com said his team aren’t thinking about holding on for a draw to get through but that his team must “show for the game and aim for a positive result.”
Captain Andrejs Pavlovs was the busier of the two goalkeepers last week, having to make six saves compared to Brendan Clarke’s three. In front of him, Skonto weren’t afraid of putting in the tackles and they committed over twice the number of fouls than Pat’s with 21 in total. The Polish official on Thursday in front of the vocal Pat’s home support may not be as lenient to them as last week’s referee and they will have to keep their discipline.
Referee: Tomasz Musial (Poland)
MATCH STATS
St. Pat’s have an experienced European squad with over 173 appearances between the players in European action whereas Skonta have 79 Euro appearances between them.
The Saints have a strong European home record when playing in Inchicore. They have just one defeat from their last 12 games in Richmond Park – that was a 2-1 loss to Zalgiris in 2013.
Christy Fagan became the first St. Pat’s player ever to score in Europe in two separate campaigns last season when he scored in the Saints’ 1-1 away to Legia Warsaw. That goal added to three from 2012 leave him as joint top-scorer with Declan Fabio O’Brien. Fagan also scored in Europe with Bohemians and his five goals in total leave him in joint fourth (with Eamon Zayed) in the all time League of Ireland goalscorers in Europe.
BETTING
St. Pat’s 8/11; Draw 5/2; Skonto 16/5.
PREDICTION
Pat’s to win 1-0 to allow them through on away goals.
St. Pat’s
Injured: Sean Hoare.
Suspended: None.
Skonto
Injured: Unknown.
Suspended: None.
About Macdara Ferris
Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl …