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Afolabi celebrates his goal. Laszlo Geczo/INPHO
moving on up

Bohs go top of the league and complete a horror week for Pat's

Pat’s fell to a third-straight defeat with a 2-0 loss to Declan Devine’s Bohemians.

St Patrick’s Athletic 0 

Bohemians 2

“YOU’RE GOING DOWN with Rovers” sang the Bohemians fans in stoppage time, all tangled in a kind of ecstasy that missed them last season. This 2-0 win sent Bohs top of the league and bookended a horror week for Pat’s: a third defeat in seven days, leaving to boos and jeers from their own supporters. 

Jonathan Afolabi scored his first goal of the season to give Bohs an early first-half lead which Dean Williams doubled in second-half stoppage time, with Pat’s desperately struggling for attacking rhythm in between. 

The night began ominously for Pat’s, losing Tom Grivotsi to injury after only 14 minutes. That stoppage afforded Bohemians’ assistant manager Derek Pender a chance to call Jonathan Afolabi to the bench for some tactical instruction, to which Anto Breslin sidled over to earwig, which caused a minor skirmish by the benches. 

Breslin either didn’t hear what was said or couldn’t get the message across, as two minutes later Afolabi was sprinting down the touchline to embrace Pender, celebrating his first goal of the season. Bohs’ threatened down their left flank all night and it was there they created Afolabi’s goal, Paddy Kirk feeding Ali Coote, who stood a cross to the six-yard box that Afolabi steered beyond David Odumosu with his head. 

Afolabi might have immediately scored a second, but skied Kirk’s cutback. 

Bohs were a suffocating, oppressive force in the minutes after the goal, with Afolabi earning another chorus of appreciation from the Bohs supporters when he sprinted to charge down Odumosu along the end-line. The Pat’s goalkeeper was relieved to earn a goal-kick. 

Pat’s lacked all of Bohs’ conviction. One first-half moment summed it up. Pat’s ran through some desultory possession, knocking it around the back with zero penetration until it was played to left-sided centre back Jay McGrath, who miscontrolled. James Akintunde pounced immediately, McGrath hauled him down and took a booking. 

Much of Bohs’ passing was slick and fizzed with energy, many of the patterns neatly weaved by their hugely impressive teenage midfielder James McManus, who, even at 17, has the good sense and maturity to wear black Copa Mundials. 

Pat’s did create chances in the first-half but weren’t so much let down by poor finishing by the total absence of it. Breslin’s whipped deliveries from the left were a delight, but too many were either cleared under little pressure or skidded unhindered across Bohs’ box. 

the-play-is-stopped-due-of-a-drone-above-the-pitch The game is briefly stopped because of an overhead drone. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO

Pat’s sprung right into the second half. Mulraney couldn’t fully connect with a super cross by Vladislav Kreida after Sam Curtis had raided into the box, while moments later Tommy Lonergan rifled a shot into the side-netting. It was a lively start: perhaps Pat’s were smarting from their manager’s words at half-time. 

That vigour faded way and instead Pat’s had to listen to an opera of frustrated howls from their own supporters, the stands growing tetchy at successions of sideways passing. 

“Go. Forward. Do not f******g go backwards”, roared one Pat’s fan at Kreida when he stood over a free kick near the halfway line. The anguished cry heard around the ground moments later told you that Kreida did, indeed, go backwards. 

While they lacked conviction open play but Pat’s retained a threat from set pieces, and James Talbot threw himself to his right to bat away Lonergan’s free header from a corner. 

Bohs’ attacking threat waned when they lost Afolabi to what looked like a hamstring injury, but Pat’s salvage job got more complicated when Jamie Lennon was dismissed for a second yellow card for a foul on Kirk. 

There were times Sam Curtis seemed to be taking the challenge to Bohs alone, seeing a long-range effort pushed behind the post by Talbot. There did come one slick moment of Pat’s link-up in the closing minutes, substitutes Conor Carty and Serge Atakayi combining fluidly before Carty skewed his shot wide. 

Odumosu’s first-half error went unpunished but he wasn’t as lucky in second-half stoppage time. Chased down by Grant Horton, the Pat’s goalkeeper swung at fresh air and lost the ball, with Horton keeping his composure to square the ball to substitute Dean Williams. 

He couldn’t miss: it was a simple finish against opponents finding everything all too difficult at the moment.  

St Patrick’s Athletic: David Odumosu; Tom Grivosti (Noah Lewis, 15′), Joe Redmond (captain), Jay McGrath (Conor Carty, 76′); Sam Curtis; Jamie Lennon, Vladislav Kreida, Chris Forrester; Anto Breslin; Jake Mulraney (Serge Atakayi, 70′), Tommy Lonergan (Eoin Doyle, 70′)

Bohemians: James Talbot; Grant Horton, Krystian Nowak, Kacper Radkowski, Paddy Kirk; James McManus, Adam McDonnell (James Clarke, 86′); Ali Coote, Jordan Flores (captain), James Akintunde (Declan McDaid, 63′); Jonathan Afolabi (Dean Williams, 57′) 

Referee: Neil Doyle 

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