Shamrock Rovers manager Liam Buckley admits his side will be taking a step up in class when they face Slovan Liberec in the second round first leg of the Intertoto Cup in the Czech Republic tomorrow.
Last season Slovan beat eventual winners AC Milan in the Champions League qualifiers 2-1 at home before going out on the away goals rule when losing 1-0 at the San Siro.
After that the Czechs went on a UEFA Cup run beating Dinamo Tbilisi of Georgia and Ipswich on penalties before losing out to Greek side Panathanaikos.
"Those results show just how good a side Slovan are - but I will be looking for an encore of our first round 3-1 aggregate win over Polish side Odra Wodzislaw," said Buckley.
"Ipswich Town have been very helpful to us and have given us a dossier and videos of their games with Slovan last year.
"If we play as well as against the Poles we are capable of causing them a few problems. The switch to summer football in Ireland has also been an advantage.
"That was evident against Odra last week. We had 11 league games under our belt while the Polish season had ended three weeks previously. Match fitness is all important and it could again work in our favour.
"Slovan Liberec played their last league game five weeks ago although I know that they have had three friendly matches in the last two weeks and are preparing seriously for this tie as they see it as an entrance to the forthcoming UEFA Cup campaign.
"It's important we get a good result in Liberec as that would guarantee us another huge crowd for the second leg at Richmond Park.
"I would be happy with a draw or even a single-goal defeat against a class side. The Czechs have done their homework on us."
Buckley is likely to stick to the same team that beat Odra with Fitzpatrick partnering Tony Grant in attack and former Republic of Ireland youth international and ex-Carlisle player Trevor Molloy likely to start on the bench.