St.Patrick's Athletic edged out Finn Harps 1-0 on Friday night thanks to a late winner by substitute Jake Walker. They are now level on points with Derry City going into the summer break, although the Candystripes have two games in hand.Chances wer
St.Patrick's Athletic edged out Finn Harps 1-0 on Friday night thanks to a late winner by substitute Jake Walker.
They are now level on points with Derry City going into the summer break, although the Candystripes have two games in hand.Chances were few and far between throughout a rainy first half although Chris Forrester headed over for Saints inside the first minute.
Following that, a couple of Harps defensive lapses led to half-chances for Ian Bermingham and Gary Shaw but neither could fire home.
The away side's first chance came in the 17th minute when Raffaele Cretaro played a lovely through ball to Nathan Boyle who could only shoot straight at incoming Pat's goalkeeper Brendan Clarke.
There was a long delay from the 18th minute when Saints' Rhys McCabe was the recipient of a reckless foul by Tony McNamee.
McCabe eventually limped off to be replaced by Conor Clifford and McNamee picked up a yellow card for his part.
Further chances fell to the home side's Mikey Drennan and Boyle at the other end before referee Neil Doyle brought a lacklustre first half to a close.
Pats came out for the second half looking a little bit brighter and had an opportunity when Clifford's free kick bounced off the wall before Kevin Toner's rebound was blocked.
In the 56th minute, Forrester received a pass from Bermingham outside the box and hit a decent effort which went over the bar. Minutes later, Bermingham had his own chance on the edge of the box but his shot went the same way as his teammate's.
On the hour, a Harps attack saw Michael Place twist his way into the box before his shot was blocked, as was Boyle's follow-up. The Richmond Park crowd were on their feet on 65 minutes when Drennan hit a great shot from long range which was just tipped over by Harps goalkeeper Mark McGinley.
Drennan then played substitute Jake Walker in but he could only hit his shot at McGinley.The breakthrough finally arrived in the 83rd minute when fellow sub Dean Clarke played a low pass to Walker in the box.
In yards of space, all Walker had to do was guide the ball into the bottom-right corner of the goal. The resurgent home side went in search of a second in the dying minutes and came close when Drennan's close-range shot bounced off the crossbar.
But they couldn't find the second, leaving Harps rooted at the bottom of the table, level on 10 points with UCD.
