Preview: Hurting Saints host Shamrock Rovers tonight

St Patrick's Athletic host leaders Shamrock Rovers in a re-arranged Dublin derby in Richmond Park tonight, with the Saints needing to lift themselves from a hammer blow last Friday.

While the champions and leaders were seeing out a 1-0 win over their arch-rivals Bohemians to extend their lead to seven points at the top, the Saints were on course to record three points of their own after a dominant performance in Finn Park.

However, a classic Finn Harps rally led to a goal back and then a 96th-minute equaliser, leaving Pat’s devastated.

It was particularly hurtful as Dundalk, Sligo Rovers, Bohs and Shelbourne all failed to win on the night.

Nevertheless, Tim Clancy’s side can at least cement their top four position and close on Derry City if they can repeat their victory over the Hoops from early in the campaign when Chris Forrester struck a late winner.

Manager Tim Clancy has been reacting to Friday's late heartbreak at Finn Harps as attention quickly turns to the game in Richmond. "The madness of the last eight minutes of Friday overshadows what was probably our best performance of the season in regards to the 88 minutes that went before. We were 2-0 ahead and created a number of other really good chances but conceded two late set pieces. "It probably didn't help with the changes that we made at the time that we made them late in the game either. The two goals on Friday were the first two we've conceded from set pieces all year which is very frustrating. "We have to try and focus on the positives from Friday night and we're hoping that in front of another big home crowd we can repeat the performance that saw us beat Shamrock Rovers 1-0 at Richmond the last time, we'll be aiming to get a positive result."

Shamrock Rovers are