Sligo Rovers v Bohemians, The Showgrounds, 7.45
Dave Robertson wants an immediate response from Sligo Rovers after their midweek loss to Shamrock Rovers, and has urged his men to box clever against the visiting Bohemians.
Sligo fell to a 3-0 defeat in Tallaght as a run of three wins was brought abruptly to a halt.
The Bit O’Red remain seventh in the table, and boss Robertson has challenged his side to get back in the winning groove.
“We will have to match Bohs work rate but not only that, we will have to be clever in our play," he said.
"Tactically we will have to get it right and be smart. We know how we want the game to go and if we can dictate things that will give us the best chance. We are still carrying confidence through from the run we have been on lately.
“We have a good opportunity to bounce back against Bohemians this Saturday. We are just looking to rest ourselves again and get back to the form we had been showing before the Shamrock Rovers.”
Robertson has been able to name the same team for four games running but has plenty of players on the sidelines desperate for starting places.
“We have good competition at the moment in the squad from the players on the bench. They have all shown a good attitude and application. It gives me a real dilemma for selection going into the game. That is exactly what we want to have here and to have that competition.”
Keith Long has told Bohemians they need to be cuter up front to end their goalless and winless streak.
Despite periods of possession and dominance in recent games, the Gypsies have gone 591 minutes without scoring.
Bohs' last goal and win came in the 2-0 victory away to Bray Wanderers on April 9 and Long is determined to rectify that at The Showgrounds tomorrow.
Long said: "We can't be waiting for the perfect ball in the whole time - we need to be cuter and show a bit more devilment about us."
Bohs will be without striker Mark Quigley, who is suspended after his red card in Tuesday's 2-0 defeat to Cork City.
But the Gypsies' options up front have been boosted by the return of Ismahil Akinade, who had been sidelined with a hamstring injury.
Akinade featured as a substitute against Cork and is in contention for a starting place for the first time in four weeks.
Long said: "Izzy hadn't been right for a few weeks so we needed to give him time to recover. He offers us a different dimension to our play and a completely different dynamic up front."
Bohs' bid to end their barren run saw Jake Kelly and Kurtis Byrne restored to the starting line-up against Cork City.
Long said: "We tried to bring a bit more positivity to our attacking play by bringing in Jake and Kurtis. There were positive signs early on - we brought the game to Cork.
"But it was a bad first goal to concede and came at a bad time too, just two minutes after half-time. It wasn't necessarily a sucker-punch, but we allowed Cork see out the game far too comfortably.
"We were the home team and we should have been bringing the game to them again after we conceded the opener but we didn't do that, which is disappointing."
A Kurtis Byrne wonder goal gave Bohs a 1-0 victory against tomorrow's opposition the sides met at Dalymount Park in March.
But Dave Robertson's men are a much-improved side since. Before Tuesday's defeat away to Shamrock Rovers, the Bit O'Red had won their previous three games in a row.
Long added: "I've been very impressed with Sligo any time I've seen them. They will be playing with real confidence, despite the result in Tallaght.
"But we have to concentrate on our own performance. We are not a million miles off getting it right, but we still have work to do."
Bohs are without Quigley (suspended) and Jason Caffrey (hamstring). Ayman Ben Mohamed (groin) is a doubt.
Bray Wanderers v Galway United, Carlisle Grounds, 7.30pm
Sixth-placed Galway travel to the Carlisle Grounds in need of a morale booster after a slump in form.
The Tribesmen have lost their last three games after drawing at home to Longford Town, and with Bray themselves are also going through a difficult patch, losing recent matches against Dundalk, Cork City and St Patrick's Athletic, it could be a cagey encounter.
"We've been through a difficult patch," manager Tommy Dunne acknowledged. "Our recent run of results may have stemmed from the Longford Town game that we should have won.
"Travelling to Dundalk was always going to difficult. In the St Pat's game, I thought the performance up until Sullivan's sending off was good and we looked like we were the only ones that were going to score.
"Playing Bray away will be very difficult. We understand the task, it's going to be another tough match. They didn't have the best start, they've had a tough run of games of late. We're going to Bray expecting a tight game and we're under no illusions about that."
Stephen Folan [back], Ryan Connolly [calf], Padraic Cunningham [knee] and Enda Curran [ankle] are all out for the visitors.
John Sullivan serves a one-match suspension against his former club after his sending-off against St Patrick's Athletic on Tuesday night.
