St Patrick's Athletic 1 Cobh Ramblers 0AGAINST LINFIELD in midweek finishing was the problem for St Patrick's, but here they barely got started against a Cobh Ramblers side that battled hard late on for an equaliser but never quite got the break they required in a decidedly poor game.

Ryan Guy got the game's only goal early on, and the locals had a handful of chances to add to the margin over the course of the contest.

Really, though, the league leaders lost their way a little after taking the lead and it was hard to fathom at the end how such an unimpressive win could send them four points clear at the top of the table.

Several key players turned in below-par performances, but there were enough chances created for the likes of Mark Quigley and Gary O'Neill to have at least tested James McCarthy.

With Shamrock Rovers and Cork City to come over the weeks, they may have to be more clinical if they are to continue winning.

If the home support had arrived last night expecting goals in the wake of Tuesday night's performance against Linfield, then they looked set to have their way during the early exchanges as the likes of Quigley, Keith Fahey and Guy repeatedly skipped past opponents as St Patrick's pressed forward.

Ramblers conceded a succession of corners in the opening 10 minutes and twice came close to falling behind as Dessie Byrne first forced McCarthy into turning the ball just over, and then narrowly failed to connect when attempting to head home from close range.

By the 11th minute the locals had the lead, but what was more alarming for Stephen Henderson than seeing his side fall behind was the ease with which Gary Dempsey and Quigley had been able to work their way forward before Guy, with plenty of time to pick his spot, finished from a narrow angle on the right.

As Ramblers kicked off it was hard to imagine how the goal might end up being the first of many.

For whatever reason, though, the visitors started to look a little more assured, while their hosts seemed to lose their early sparkle. St Patrick's continued to enjoy the best of the possession but very little seemed to bounce kindly for their strikers, while Fahey failed to connect properly with a couple of longer-range efforts. Just before the break, O'Neill passed up a good opportunity to turn Guy's curling cross home.

At the other end, Alan Kearney forced a decent save from Barry Ryan, but his defence only really looked uncomfortable on the rare occasions that Graham Cummins got the opportunity to use his pace around the edges of the area.

Come the interval, John McDonnell must have thought he would be able to instil a little more composure into his side, but if anything things got worse.

True, Ramblers had to defend deeply at times while their goalkeeper's inclination to come a very long way off his line at times always offered an opportunist goal. But in midfield they started to look better at retaining possession than their opponents.

Both teams were guilty of trying to get rid of the ball too quickly, but Ramblers showed at times that they could pass the ball too. A couple of crosses midway through the half, from John Meade and Michael O'Shea, caused problems for Ryan and his defenders, but the closest the visitors came to salvaging their first away point of the season was when Ken Coleman's corner was headed by Guy into the path of Dave Partridge, who came close to turning the ball past his own goalkeeper.

After that the Ramblers threat largely subsided, and the home side might even have grabbed a late goal themselves - although they'd scarcely have deserved it.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Ryan; Lynch, Partridge (Brennan, 85 mins), Paisley, Frost; Guy, Fahey, Dempsey, Byrne (Kirby, 77 mins); Quigley, O'Neill (Keane, 92 mins).

COBH RAMBLERS: McCarthy; Coleman, Guthrie, Murray, Meade; O'Neill, Barrett (J Kearney, half-time), A Kearney, Mulcrony (O'Shea, 78 mins); Cummins, O'Reilly.

Referee: D Hanney (Dublin).