Shelbourne v Sligo

Shelbourne vs Sligo Rovers Preview

Shelbourne moved up into fifth place in the Irish Premier Division standings with a 3-2 home win against lowly Drogheda United last time out in the domestic top flight and the hosts will no doubt be looking for more of the same when they take on seventh-placed Sligo Rovers at Tolka Park on Friday night.

Following that win on Monday night, Shelbourne now trail third-placed St Patrick's Athletic by a six-point margin so the hosts will be looking to further reduce this deficit against a Sligo Rovers outfit who have managed to pick up just three away wins so far this season.

As for Shelbourne, Friday night's hosts have put together a solid and consistent sequence of results since early April as they have lost just once in the 12 matches played during this period overall, while also picking up five wins and being involved in six draws as well.

Results at home have also benefitted as Shelbourne have lost just twice at home to date in this campaign, picking up five wins in the process with one of these being a 2-1 victory over Sligo Rovers back in mid-April.

Sligo Rovers occupy seventh place in the Irish Premier Division table but the visitors find themselves some seven points adrift of Friday's hosts, Shelbourne, following a miserable stretch of results of late in the domestic top flight.

Sligo Rovers have lost five of their last six matches overall and although they picked up three points by virtue of a narrow 1-0 home win against Derry City, the five defeats at the hands of Dundalk, Shelbourne (at home), Cork City, Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers have outweighed their minimal success.

The visitors have also found wins on the road hard to come by as well not only in this season's campaign (winning just three of their nine outings to date), but the bigger picture shows Sligo Rovers have collected just five wins out of their last 21 outings on their travels in the Irish top flight.

In addition, Sligo Rovers have kept just four clean sheets within this poor period of results away from home which does not bode well for them on Friday night.

Shelbourne v Sligo Rovers Verdict

Shelbourne have definitely produced more consistent results throughout this Premier Division season than their visitors, Sligo Rovers, and the hosts look to be better equipped to take the spoils here at Tolka Park accordingly.

In addition, Shelbourne have won the last two meetings on the trot against Sligo Rovers and another three points looks to be on the cards for the hosts on Friday night.

Therefore, our main bet will be Shelbourne win @ 2.15

Other side bets worth considering:

Shelbourne win & Under 2.5 goals @ 4.00

Correct score: Shelbourne 1-0 @ 6.50