Showgrounds ready for Battle of the Rovers | Airtricity League

Showgrounds ready for Battle of the Rovers

It's the Battle of the Rovers at The Showgrounds on Saturday evening as Sligo Rovers play host to Shamrock Rovers.

Both teams go into action looking to bounce back from defeats last weekend - the Bit O’ Red had their four match unbeaten run ended by Cork City at Turner’s Cross last Friday, while The Hoops’ five match unbeaten run came to an end last weekend at the hands of Bray Wanderers.

Hoops manager Michael O'Neill is expecting a tough match but he has told his players to aim for all three points.

“This is going to be a very tricky game for us – Sligo are a lot better than their league position might indicate and they’ve got some great results, a win in Derry, for example," said O'Neill.

“But we have beaten them already, and we know that we’re capable of winning the game. We’ll certainly be travelling in a positive frame of mind - we want those three points.”

Sligo Rovers are once again without Mauro Almeida, although Stephen Parkhouse and Sean Doherty could come back into contention having missed the last few matches.

The Hoops are definitely without Ian Bermingham (calf), while Dessie Baker (hamstring), Sean Webb (back), Simon Madden (ankle), Corie Treacy (calf) and Sean O’Connor (scan) are all doubtful.

O'Neill's side lost to Bray Wanderers last weekend, although the manager admits that his side deserved nothing from the game after putting in a poor performance. Victory over St. Patrick's Athletic on Monday in the EA SPORTS Cup helped the Hoops to move on, which O'Neill says was important.

“I was hugely disappointed with the result and the performance [against Bray]," he said. "That was probably our worst performance of the season. We didn’t deserve anything from the game.

“Bray Wanderers came to Tallaght and showed a better application and a better attitude than us. We didn’t match that and as a result we lost the game.”

“[Beating St. Pat's] was a very satisfactory result – especially as we had several injuries - as it meant that we bounced back immediately after last Friday’s defeat in Tallaght against Bray Wanderers.

“We changed the side a bit and I was delighted to see Padraig Amond score in what was overall a pretty good performance by the lads that now has us in the quarter-finals.”

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