Alan Reynolds has warned that St Pat’s form will turn – and that Bohemians will have to give absolutely everything of themselves to ensure it doesn’t happen against them.
The sides have met twice already this year, with St Pat’s inflicting Bohs’ worst defeat of the season when they ran out 3-0 winners at Richmond Park in March.
Reynolds’ men hit back when the sides renewed acquaintances at Dalymount Park in April, with Rob Cornwall equalising in the 89th minute and the since-departed Seán Grehan claiming the winner in a 2-1 victory in the 97th minute.
Reynolds said: “We have seen from the games that we have played against them that St Pat’s are a quality team with a great manager too.
“They’re not in the form they want to be in at the moment but they have a brilliant manager who I have a lot of respect for and they will eventually click again.
“The challenge for us is to make sure that doesn’t happen against Bohs. We’ve gone to Richmond Park already this season and we have been punished and punished badly, so we are going there with something to prove.
“But we know how capable we are ourselves. We are going there with confidence and a real belief in ourselves, whereas we were under pressure the last time we went there. We need to keep pushing ourselves, and we can’t give Pat’s an inch tonight.”
Bohs come into this game on the back of needing a James Clarke injury-time equaliser against Sligo Rovers last week in a game they felt they should have won only to have come unstuck by a wonder goal by Owen Elding.
Reynolds said: “There is a great hunger in this team. I’m sure the fans were frustrated that we couldn’t turn a point against Sligo last week into three points last week but from the reaction of the fans after the game they know the players were kicking themselves just as much as they were.
“There were so many positives in our performance last week – our fans can see that too – and we were pleased to at least manage to salvage a point but we know we left two more behind us, so we have to keep striving to be more clinical in both boxes.”
Bohs come into this game with some personnel changes in the squad with Douglas James-Taylor’s arrival from Walsall via Drogheda United expected to strong firepower upfront and Cian Byrne returning from his loan spell at Galway United with some vital first-team experience under his belt, while Lys Mousset’s spell at the club was cut short by mutual consent.
Reynolds added: “Dougie was one that we were looking at for a while. Once we became aware that he was available, it was a no-brainer for us. He is a brilliant centre-forward who wants to score goals. I think the fans will take to him, and that he can be a really important player for us.
“Cian has had a really good loan spell at Galway United. He played every game he was available for them, they wanted to keep him and he has gained so much experience during his few months there that should be invaluable to him and to us.
“Lys struggled to get fit during his time here, it just wasn’t happening for him. But he did score a brilliant goal for us to win in Sligo, which was a really important result for us. Obviously he was one that really excited the fans when he came in and caught the imagination of people but unfortunately it hasn’t worked out. The staff all tried our best with him to get him fit, but he kept getting niggles which slowed him down. He’s a good guy and we wish him all the very best.”
Team news
Bohemians are without Archie Meekison (hamstring) and Alex Lacey (hamstring).