Sligo Rovers vs St Patrick's Athletic Predictions

Two midtable Irish sides meet at the Showgrounds this weekend, as Sligo Rovers host St Pats Athletic. The visitors come here with some awful recent form behind them, but will that see Rovers secure a victory? Or can Pats continue their fine run against this weekend’s opponents? They’ve won four of the last five meetings between these two sides, but with some dodgy away form behind them we struggle to see the visitors getting much from Saturday night’s meeting.

Sligo Rovers are coming off the back of a heavy loss to Dundalk last weekend, a result which left them in the bottom half of the table. However, they are in much better shape at home, having gone unbeaten across their last five matches at the Showgrounds. The hosts are aiming to add to that streak this weekend, while they want to top their home form in their own favour. So far this term Rovers have won three, drawn three and lost three here, so which way is this clash going to go?

The visitors have been much worse in their nine away games, drawing three and losing four. They are still sitting just inside the top half, although they sit some way off a place in Europe. Pats aren’t likely to be comfortable here, despite their decent record against Rovers. So far this season the away side have scored 62% of their goals at home. Meanwhile, Rovers have hit 61% of their strikes on the road. If you were to reverse this fixture, you might get something as exciting as Pats’ 2-1 win at home in their last game. However, this time around is set to be much more restrained.

Both sides should also be more solid at the back here, as Rovers have conceded 68% of their total goals away from home. Meanwhile, the majority of the goals the away side have let in have come at their own ground. The hosts have scored just seven times at home, but they’ve conceded only eight here. Meanwhile, Pats have lost their nine away games by an aggregate scored of 8-6.

Given that form, they’re hardly seen as exciting sides. On average there are usually less than two goals at their respective games. There have been under 2.5 goals scored in 100% of Pats’ away games this term. Meanwhile, this has been a typically low scoring fixture, as Sligo Rovers have seen under 2.5 goals in five of their last six home matches against St Patrick’s. That has us backing under 2.5 goals as our main tip here.