Preview: Shamrock Rovers vs Drogheda United

Tolka Park is the venue on Friday night for the clash of Shamrock Rovers and Drogheda United. Rovers won this season's first meeting between the two, thanks to an early Alan Murphy goal at United Park. The Hoops were deserved winners that day.

That win set Rovers up for an impressive start to the season. They won four of their first five games and were unbeaten until the visit of Pat Fenlon's Bohemians at the beginning of April. Since then their form has been poor and they are without a win in their last eight games in all competitions.

Drogheda have started slowly and have not yet hit the form that saw them romp to the title last season. They have beaten Cork, as well as the league's bottom four sides, but have come up short against Derry, Bohemians and Bray. Most recently they failed to close the gap on leaders St Pats, after the Inchicore side twice came from behind to earn a point at United Park.

There is no doubt that Rovers have been on a terrible run of form, but recent performances against Derry and Finn Harps would suggest that Pat Scully's side are not that far off from getting back to winning ways. Rovers took the lead against both Derry and Harps but once ahead they acted over-cautious.They dropped deeper and deeper and it was almost inevitable that they would concede.

Manager Scully feels that along with beating Derry, they should have picked up three points at Finn Park -"It was a game we should have won. We created many scoring chances on the night, Tadhg Purcell had a goal disallowed, and we missed several other opportunities to wrap up the game".

While they only earned a point, Scully preferred to concentrate on the positives and knows that there is more to come from his side - "Overall it was a good to see our young side do well. They're being reared properly, they have good futures as footballers – but they still have a lot to improve on and we're working on that."

Drogheda manager Paul Doolin feels his side are starting to perform somewhere near their potential - "Our play has improved a lot recently, I think we're moving cohesively and playing some good football. We're looking forward to Friday now, and putting in another good performance".

Rovers are facing somewhat of an injury crisis - with eight players ruled out. Defenders Danny O'Connor and Pat Flynn wont be involved due to ankle injuries. Darren Stapleton is still recovering from a thigh strain. Young midfielders Robbie Creevy and Chris Mulhall are still sidelined. John Martin and Eric McGill will also be missing from the middle of the field, while Dessie Baker has also picked up a thigh strain. Aidan Price had to leave the action early last week against Harps due to injury - he has recovered and is expected to start.

The reigning champions are once again without Dan O'Connor, Shane Barrett and Declan OBrien.

A win for Rovers would move them further away from the relegation zone, however it is unlikely it would lift them any higher in the table. An away win could see Drogheda move up as high as third place.

Kick off at Tolka Park is at 8pm.