Shamrock Rovers lost their second game out of four at Richmond Park on Friday night, however, manager Stephen Bradley appeared unconcerned by the outcome in Inchicore.
"On another night, the game is done at half-time," said the Hoops manager, speaking to the press after the game, listing the chances and statistics to back up his belief that the better side lost the entertaining Dublin derby.
Rovers certainly controlled the tempo once the game settled down in the first half, and the chances did present themselves, yet St Pat's also appeared content with their hardworking and organised approach to their clash with the champions.
There were early chances for Rovers, yet the frenetic pace of the opening 15 minutes was reflected by the play inside the box where Danny Mandroiu and Rory Gaffney were unable to truly test Saints keeper Joseph Anang.
Ronan Finn did spurn a great chance to open the scoring for Rovers midway through the first half, however, Anang did well to make the crucial save.
Dylan Watts, Jack Byrne and Mandroiu again, all hit efforts goalwards in those opening 45 minutes, but in reality, the Saints goal was not really threatened, with the last of the three crashing into the side-netting.
Pat’s had a penalty appeal waved away just before the break, yet their counter-attacking approach offered little in the final third.
That all changed ten minutes into the second half as Chris Forrester rose highest to head home from a corner.
Rovers reacted with a spate of attack-minded substitutions, and while they dominated throughout the final 30 minutes, the quality of delivery was largely lacking and the chances that did present themselves were not converted.
"I thought we were very good," said the Rovers manager. "Looking at the stats there, we created 13 or 14 chances, and it’s the best we’ve been all year in the four games. And if we produce that, nine times out of ten we win the game.
"The game could have possibly been over at half-time when you look at the chances that we had.
"Their goal is obviously from a corner kick, and other than that they had a Chris Forrester shot from 30 yards, that was the only threat we had all night.
"The corner is disappointing. It’s five yards out, maybe, and it’s a free header. It’s a disappointing goal to give away, but we were very good. It’s strange to say that, but we were very good."
St Pat’s boss Tim Clancy was delighted with his side’s performance as the Richmond Park club bounced back in the best possible way from their double defeat last weekend to Sligo Rovers and Bohemians.
And the victory against Rovers sees Saints join the Hoops in second place in the table on six points, two behind early pace-setters Derry City, who are unbeaten after four games and secured a decent 1-0 victory against Shelbourne at Tolka Park on Friday night.
"I’m very pleased with the result," said Clancy. "Getting the win against Shamrock Rovers was big, but the performance was even better. I think it showed a different side to us tonight, after the disappointing results against Sligo and Bohs, and the performances more so.
"We can grind out a result as well. We have a lot of quality in the players on the pitch and we showed another part of it there with our performance defensively."
The manager felt that Chris Forrester epitomised his side’s performance by leading by example with an incredibly hard-working shift in the middle of the park, while also scoring the vital goal.
"They [Rovers] have unbelievable talented players in the middle of the pitch, and [while] I think Chris Forrester is technically the best player in the league, you saw the other side to him tonight where he is flying and doing loads of work, and he’s even scoring from corners."
While Clancy admitted that it was great to get a result against Shamrock Rovers, he was more impressed by the performance, most notably in the final stages where his side stood firm to hold out for the vital victory.
"Over the last season, Shamrock Rovers scored a lot of late goals and they put a lot of pressure on teams, but I thought the lads stood up at the back and defended really well.
"And we had the experience to call Bermo [Ian Bermingham] in to steady the ship for the last 10-15 minutes, which was good."
