SOCCER: EUROPA LEAGUE FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND: IBV v St Patrick's Athletic:DUE TO the short notice from the time of the draw and some awkward travelling logistics preventing them getting up here to see their opponents in the flesh, St Patrick's manager Pete Mahon has had to take a leaf out of Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni's scouting manual and do his homework on IBV Vestmannaeyjar via DVD.
St Patrick’s last training session in Dublin prior to Tuesday’s departure was centred on just how IBV, currently second in their league, might play. Scouring of a single DVD of a recent game following their arrival proved Mahon was spot on.
“Preparation has gone quite well,” Mahon said yesterday at the team hotel which is literally across the road from the match stadium.
“We’ve looked at the DVD of them and they are something along the lines of Sligo Rovers in that they play a 4-3-3 system.
“They have some good players, with good rotation and movement. It’s very flexible and we’ll have to match that.
“But like any team, they have weaknesses. They have weaknesses at the back, in the full back positions and I wouldn’t be mad about the goalkeeper.
“We have a chance. If we can get enough of the ball I think we can give them problems.”
Matching their three in midfield and snuffing out the threat of now 36-year-old striker Tryggvi Guðmundsson, who scored 12 times in 42 appearances for Iceland, is central to the Airtricity League leaders’ gameplan.
“The whole thing here will come down to discipline and not spend the match ball-watching. If we do we’ll have serious trouble,” added Mahon. “They have no real pace in the team but they do build the play up well and have good movement off the ball.
“We’ve watched just the one DVD. It’s enough. We had done our training based on what we saw anyway, so we kind of got lucky. We had an idea they played like that and they played exactly like that.”
Mahon rejects the notion St Patrick’s go into the tie as slight favourites, stressing the most important thing is to bring the tie back very much alive to Dublin.
With Derek Pender, Dave Mulcahy, Stephen Bradley and Danny North over knocks, Mahon has a full squad at his disposal.
“We’ll definitely try to win it. I think the two boys (Kavanagh and North) we have up front will give them a bit of trouble with their pace.”
ST PATRICK'S (probable team 4-3-3):Rogers: Pender, E McMillan, Shortall, Bermingham; Crowley, Mulcahy, Bradley; Kavanagh, North, Doyle.
* FULHAM host Faroe Islands team NSI Runavik at Craven Cottage in their first match under Martin Jol. Lauri Dalla Valle and Kerim Frei could be handed debuts, with the likes of Moussa Dembele, Carlos Salcido and Clint Dempsey unavailable.
Glentoran travel to Macedonia to face Renova and Cliftonville are away to The New Saints from Wales.
