St Patrick’s College will be spurred on by their largest home crowd of the year this Saturday when they attempt to stay on top of the AIC First XI football premiership ladder.

St Pat’s will host Padua College in the annual Back to Shorncliffe Day at Curlew Park, buoyed by their victory over the unbeaten Iona College last Saturday.

Kel Neil bent home a free kick into the top left of the net – an achievement even more impressive considering the ball had to pass Iona’s excellent goalkeeper Jamie Cogman.

A second goal by Heath Morris gave St Pat’s a 2-0 win and ended the winning run of Iona, which had led the competition with three victories.

St Pat’s now shares the competition lead with Marist College Ashgrove, which defeated a spirited St Edmund’s College 4-1.

St Pat’s and Ashgrove drew earlier in the season, leaving them unbeaten and one point ahead of Iona with three rounds remaining.

Ashgrove travels to Villanova Park this weekend to face a Villanova College team keen to atone for last week’s 3-0 loss to St Peter’s Lutheran College.

This was St Peter’s first win of the season, featuring another goal from Paddy Cunningham to follow his double from the previous week. Matt Steele and Ryusei Chichibu also scored.

St Laurence’s College secured its second win of the season when James Mandrusiak’s early goal was enough for a 1-0 win at Banyo.

The entertaining clash featured strong play from both teams with Padua fighting back from a moderate start to fully test St Laurence’s.

Saturday’s fifth round includes strong match-ups with Iona and St Laurence’s clashing on Iona Old Boys’ Day while St Edmund’s will host St Peter’s at Tivoli.