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Saints players Anto Flood, Ian Bermingham, manager Buckley and IBV boss Magnus Gylfason. INPHO/Cathal Noonan
Preview

Europa League: Buckley wary of Icelandic opponents

St Patrick’s Athletic take on IBV Vestmannaeyjar in their Europa League qualifier tonight.

Who: St Patrick’s Athletic v IBV Vestmannaeyjar

Where: Europa League, first qualifying round, first leg

When: Tonight, Richmond Park, 7.45pm

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC face familiar opposition at Richmond Park tonight as IBV Vestmannaeyjar visit Inchicore.

The Icelandic outfit were drawn with the Saints in the same round of the Europa League last season with the Airtricity League side prevailing thanks to a 2-0 win at Richmond Park after going down 1-0 to the islanders in the first leg.

Liam Buckley, who has previous experience in Europe with Shamrock Rovers and Sporting Fingal, has done his research on tonight’s opposition and is wary of the possible threat they will pose.

“IBV will be a different test, we know a little about them but not as much you’d like to know,” Buckley told StPatsFC.com. “We’ve seen a few DVDs of them from recent games, and then of course last year’s game as well. They have five English players in there squad, and we think most of them will be involved tomorrow.”

In the game last year, it was tight and wasn’t as comfortable as people have made out. They had a few chances to score the away goal in Inchicore which could have made the difference and swung the result in their favour, so they’re a decent side.”

Pat’s, who are unbeaten in their last nine games in European competition on home soil, have John Russell and Anto Flood available for selection but will miss the injured Chris Forrester.

They are currently second in the Premier Division, sitting four points off leaders Sligo Rovers and meet out-of-sorts Shamrock Rovers in a rescheduled fixture on Sunday.

Tonight’s opponents, meanwhile, are fourth in their domestic table and are unbeaten in their last six league matches.

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