St Patrick’s Athletic v NK Široki Brijeg, Richmond Park, 7.45pm
RICHMOND PARK HOSTS the Europa League this evening as St Patrick’s Athletic look to progress through to the third round qualifiers, where they would get to face German side Hannover 96.
First though, Bosnian outfit NK Široki Brijeg stand in the way and will prove stern opposition but after coming away with a 1-1 draw last week, the Saints are confident in the knowledge that a 0-0 scoreline or better would be enough in Inchicore.
After Christy Fagan scored his second goal in as many European games, Brazilian striker Wagner equalised late on and Pat’s manager Liam Buckley believes they were unlucky not to have earned a memorable victory on the night.
“I thought we played well last week and were terribly unfortunate not to come away with a win,” Buckley told StPatsFC.com.
“I certainly didn’t see them scoring, especially with a few seconds left when they did eventually equalise and after we’d missed a penalty and two or three good chances, including hitting the post.”
At 1-1, the game is back in the mix. They had 10 men for most of last week, so they struggled for large parts of the game. However I’ve no doubt that they see themselves getting through the tie so it’s going to be a helter skelter game with a lot at stake for both clubs.
“But if we perform like we did last week, we’ll be right in the tie. We have the away goal and a good defensive record this year, a clean sheet tomorrow and we’re through. So hopefully we can get through and play Hannover 96 next week.”
