League Preview: UCD -v- Drogheda United

UCD

After perhaps being a little unfortunate to only pick up a point away to Derry City last Friday, UCD will have been happy to put an end to their four game losing streak. Manager Aaron Callaghan will be looking to get back to winning ways against Drogheda United on Friday night.

“Friday will be an extremely tough game against a side who have performed very well so far this year. Similar to us they have perhaps been a little unlucky not to have picked up more points in some of their games.

“Against Derry we played extremely well and on another day could have won the game. However if we keep playing the way we are it won’t be long before we start picking up more points and moving up the league.”

In between these games, UCD played in the Leinster Senior Cup against Longford Town on Monday night losing 3-1, however despite a poor performance, Callaghan still took some positives out of the game.

“Monday was a good opportunity to give some players who haven’t had much game time so far in the league a game, with a number of players impressing and will be pushing for places in Friday’s team.

“It was also good to see Ian Ryan get through the game after his injury, and gave us an opportunity to rest some of the players to keep them fresh for the Drogheda game after a tough run of fixtures over the last number of weeks.”

UCD will once more be without Ayman Ben Mohamed (knee) and Dean Clarke (back), who both look set to remain out for a number of weeks. They welcome Ian Ryan back into their squad after he completed 75 minutes against Longford on Monday.

DROGHEDA UNITED

Drogheda United will be looking to end a four match losing streak in the league as they face UCD on Friday. Defeats to Shamrock Rovers, Pat’s, Cork City and Bray Wanderers has seen the Louth club slip to 8^th in the table.

Manager Robbie Horgan was pleased with the display against the Hoops last time out but conceded he’d rather the points in the bag over a good performance.  

“The performance against Shamrock Rovers was encouraging despite the result. We deserved something out of the game but it wasn’t meant to be. I would have taken an ugly win rather than a good performance but our aim now is to stop the rot starting with UCD. We need to become more ruthless at the back, we keep switching off and that has been a problem all season.

“I think UCD have had a good start to the season considering Aaron Callaghan came in very late. With that being said, their form has been similar to our own of late, one point in five games. The table is now starting to take shape with the top five teams pulling away and we want to finish as high as possible in the other mini-league.

“While our upcoming fixtures may not seem as difficult as our last four or five, anything can happen in this league on any given day. Obviously people will have their own expectations about UCD but we had somebody watch them last week up in Derry where they were very impressive so it’s going to be a tough game.”

Drogheda will be without the injured pair of Eric Foley and Michéal Schlingermann for the trip to UCD. Foley may be available for next week’s EA Sports Cup clash against Shamrock Rovers but there is no timetable on Schlingermann’s return from a quad injury sustained on the opening night of the season. Drogheda have no suspension concerns.

Referee: Jim McKell

MATCH STATS  

Drogheda United and UCD have both lost four and drawn one game in their last five league games.

Last season the teams met three times – Drogheda United winning the first encounter 3-2 in United Park. The other two games ended in draws, 2-2 in Belfield and 1-1 in the second game in Louth.

BETTING

UCD 21/10; Draw 23/10; Drogheda United 6/5 

PREDICTION

UCD 1 – 2 Drogheda United

UCD

Injured: Ayman Ben Mohamed (Knee), Dean Clarke (Back)

Suspended: None.

Drogheda United

Injured: Eric Foley, Michael Schlingermann

Suspended: None