Sligo Rovers face into their final ten league games of the season, beginning this Saturday evening with the visit of table-toppers Shelbourne to the Showgrounds, kick-off 7.45pm.
Rovers will look to return to winning ways following a late defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic in Dublin last Sunday. The Bit O’Red had won all five of their previous games before the trip to Pat’s.
Rovers will be led from the dugout by assistant manager Ryan Casey as John Russell serves the first of a three match ban, following a red card shown to him by referee Rob Hennessy in injury time during that defeat to the Saints. Russell will also miss subsequent games with UCD and Drogheda.
Conor Reynolds and John Mahon miss out with long-term injuries. While both Simon Power and Connor Malley will be monitored in the lead up to Saturday.
Power sustained a knock the day before the Pat’s game and it is hoped that should he not make this weekend’s game, he will be recovered in time for Saturday week’s visit of UCD in the FAI Cup.
While Malley will also be assessed closer to game time after the midfielder was injured in that game at Richmond Park.
Stefan Radosavljevic returned to light training this week and will also face a fitness test.
Speaking ahead of what will be a huge match at the Showgrounds, boss Russell says that although his side were left reeling after last weekend’s late drama, Rovers are looking to bounce back immediately.
“What happened in Inchicore was disappointing but I was really enthused by our performance. We brought the game to Pat’s and were extremely unfortunate not to take at least a point, which would have been wholly deserved”, he said.
“We want to bring the positives from that game straight into this one. We are still in great form at the moment and we see the Pat’s defeat as a blip. I was really proud of the players last week and even more proud of the reaction we got in training this week. You can see the players are really keen to get out there on Saturday in front of what should be a big crowd and put last weekend behind them.
Both sides have beaten the other this season, with Damien Duff’s outfit narrowly beating Rovers at the Showgrounds on the opening weekend of March. While Rovers picked up a great win over the title-chasers on the final day of May at Tolka Park. Russell is expecting another closely fought contest on Saturday.
“Like with most games in this league, our recent games with Shels have been tight. We’re expecting it to be tough on Saturday as Shels will be chasing the win but we know we’re a match for anyone in this league now. We’ve shown in recent weeks that when we click, we are a force at any stage in any match.
“Shels have been the best team this season going by their place on the table. But we’re not a million miles off them and we are very much still in the mix for a decent finish. We are looking to end the season as strong as we can.”
David Goulden