Away games will suit us better, says Richardson

CORK CITY manager Damien Richardson has turned the daunting prospect of four successive away games into a positive by insisting his players will react better to smoother surfaces away from a very cut up Turner’s Cross.

The league leaders travel to Dalymount Park this afternoon (ko 4pm) to take on fourth placed Bohemians with the Leesiders still hurting from Friday's shock 1-0 loss at home to St Patrick's Athletic.

The poor surface at the Cork venue was certainly one of the mitigating circumstances behind City's defeat.

And Richardson believes his side will now be allowed to produce the slick football that has seen City become the most consistent side in the country.

"Tomorrow it will be different," said Richardson last night.

"The pitch will be better and the fact we have four games away from home may be an asset as it gives the surface at Turner's Cross a break. Dalymount is a good venue, it will suit us and help us to get playing our style of football.

"We played well on Friday we just needed that goal to really take on St Pat's but they got the goal, sat back and made it very difficult for us. That's history now and we have to use the disappointment as motivation in order to get back on an even keel today."

John O'Flynn is out after pulling up in the warm-up on Friday.

"It's not as bad as we first feared but he'll certainly miss the next week of action."

Richardson is looking forward to remedying last Friday's setback with a good performance today.

"We know the only thing we did wrong was not score goals. We had the opportunities in the first half when we played particularly well. I was delighted with the performance for about an hour. But the pitch got heavy in patches, Pat's sat in the box when we were looking for a break."

The Cork boss will be wary of Bohs who have just come off the back of a 3-1 win over UCD at Belfield.

"They have some very good players and have a young manager in Garreth Farrelly who will learn a huge amount this year and with a couple of good signings will be challenging for the title next season. They've won their last two games and their confidence is very high.

"If we prepare properly and play to our potential we are the best team in the country. That's our target to play the best we can."

Farrelly is fretting over injury concerns to Tony Ward Stephen Grant and Stephen Lynch but is relishing the chance to play the league leaders, who have twice beaten his side this season.

"I'm really looking forward to it," said Farrelly.

"There's no pressure on us at the moment. City are in a deserved position because they have played consistently well all season. They always bring great support to Dalymount and I'm sure it will be an excellent game."