Sligo Rovers host Dundalk at The Showgrounds on Saturday night in a game that is eagerly anticipated by the Bit O’ Red supporters.

The Bit O’ Red come into the game on the back of a 1-0 win against St. Patrick’s Athletic on Monday while the visitors Dundalk defeated UCD 2-0 at The UCD Bowl.

Performances over the Bank Holiday weekend against Shamrock Rovers and St. Patrick’s Athletic were highly praised by supporters and Manager John Russell knows his side will need to perform like that again on Saturday:

”We all know the importance of this game against Dundalk.

”The league is so tight at the moment and our main focus is to start putting a run of results together.

”Our performances last weekend give us confidence going into this home game. We should have a few players back from injury and everyone is fully focused on getting another positive result”.

The game could see over 3,000 supporters attend The Showgrounds once again this year, a crowd which will bring over overall attendance so far for 2023 to in excess of 20,000 so far in the 2023 season.

Russell stresses the importance of a large home support to bring a good atmosphere to the game:

”The supporters have come out in their numbers so far this season and we’re expecting another big crowd this Saturday night. We need everyone to continue to get behind the team.

”This group of players relish playing in front of big crowds and they feed off the energy and noise created in the ground. Hopefully we can deliver a top performance on the night”.

In team news, Rovers once again must deal with some injury concerns going into the weekend.

Karl O’ Sullivan will be out of action for around 12 weeks after recent ankle surgery. Garry Buckley is progressing in his recovery from an ACL injury and is hoping for a return to full training within the next six weeks. Mark Byrne is expected back later in the Summer while Gary Boylan may miss the remainder of the season with his ACL injury.

Bogdan Vastsuk, Fabrice Hartmann and Eanna Clancy are back in training and should feature in the squad Saturday night while Greg Bolger and James Finnerty are both expected to miss the game through injury.

The game kicks off at 7.45pm and tickets are available online at srfcidrect.com or at the turnstiles from 6.30pm.