St Patrick's Athletic forward Matty Smith has said that their 4-1 victory over Dundalk at Oriel Park was proof of the strong mentality that exists within the squad.
It was the side’s first SSE Airtricity League game since their 3-1 defeat in the top of the table clash with Shamrock Rovers, but they responded in fine style with two goals in either half securing a comfortable win in the Wee County.
The Scottish attacker was responsible for two of those goals and he felt that the result was a reminder that they remain very much in this title race with the side currently trailing Rovers by three points having played a game more.
"I was suspended last week so I was raring to go today," Smith told RTÉ Sport.
"The boys did excellent today to come back from that defeat last week, it shows the mentality of the group which is very strong. A very good performance from the lads today."
Smith’s second strike wrapped up the game with Nahum Melvin-Lambert and Chris Forrester also on the scoresheet. It came after a mix-up in the Dundalk defence and the player said that he would have been in trouble had he missed.
"When the ball came in I thought it was Christmas, I had to finish it off," he said.
"Two goals for myself today, I would have loved to get the hat-trick, obviously it would have been my first hat-trick but it’s still to come. It’s brilliant to get two goals."
Smith, who said that "there’s still plenty of time" to overtake Rovers in the title race, felt that the side started to find their rhythm in the second half and he hopes to see that continue in the coming weeks.
"We’ll take it game by game," he continued.
"Our confidence is already very high. We know the way we want to play and I don’t think we showed that in the first half.
"We came out in the second and we showed it. That’s the way we want to play, high press, keeping the ball very well. The boys were excellent."
