Pat's planning to finish the job at Tallaght - Grivosti

If St Patrick's Athletic can carry out their game-plan against CSKA Sofia at Tallaght Stadium on Thursday night, they have the potential to move into the final qualifying round of this season’s Europa Conference League.

That is the opinion of defender Tom Grivosti who admitted that the team has been primed for the second leg of the clash with the highly regarded Bulgarian side, since the final whistle blew in last week’s first leg in Sofia.

The Saints, of course, recorded a historic victory against CSKA in that fixture, thanks to a late winner, scored by substitute Serge Atakayi.

Still regarded as underdogs to progress, however, the Inchicore outfit have put themselves in an enviable position taking the tie home to Dublin with a one-goal advantage.

Well not exactly home, as the match is being played "up the road", as described by Alan Matthews ahead of the game, in what looks set to be a sold out Tallaght Stadium for this vital clash.

And while Grivosti lauded the team’s defensive performance in last week’s game, he stressed the importance of getting the right information on their opponents ahead of the game and then having the ability to carry out the game-plan on the night.

"It was unbelievable," said Grivosti, speaking to RTE Sport. "The defensive performance, first and foremost, was brilliant, the way we defended the box and we nullified them to very few half-chances and then the bonus to go and get the goal so late.

"The work-rate, the performance of the game-plan, has really helped us. Two clean sheets in Europe is some feat for us.

"Carrying out game-plans is something that we haven’t done consistently in the league and we’ve been consistent in Europe, only three games, but if we carry that on who knows where it can take