Credit:
Drogheda United -v- Sligo Rovers
- P.J. Murray
- Thu, Apr 23 2009
Drogheda United welcome Sligo Rovers to United Park on Friday for a match that Alan Mathews might have underlined as a game which the Drogs could take all three points from.
Current Form
With one game left in the first phase of matches this season Alan Mathews charges have only earned two points and scored three goals. They succumbed to a 2-1 defeat away to St Pat's last week, although were unlucky not to take a point from the clash as they spurned several gilt-edge chances.
Their home form this season has not been reflected in the results as they should have come away with something from their last home encounter with Galway and also should have taken all three points against Rovers but it seems when you are in the bottom very little goes your way.
Sligo, on the other hand, have had a recent upsurge in form. Their shock win away to Derry followed by their entertaining stalemate at home to league favourites Bohemians certainly proves the Bit O'Red are pushing toward the upper echelons of the Premier League.
Manager Comments
Drogheda manager Alan Mathews, unlike most of Louth, is not worried just yet and he says, “I’m not concerned with our league position at this stage. There’s too much football to be played. If a quarter of the season was remaining then it might be different, but after the Sligo game we’ll only be a quarter of the way through. We always knew it was going to be a difficult challenge this season.
"We have to keep looking ahead. After the St Pat’s defeat, and throughout the week in training, we’ve talked about what things we need to improve on, and we are up for the challenge. We’ll assess things again on Friday night, but we need to get our best team out on the pitch.”
On his opponents Mathews states “Sligo are a good team, there’s no doubt about that, and we know that we need to apply ourselves from the very first whistle if we’re to get anything out of the match. We are quite capable though of getting the three points, and we’re confident we can.”
Team News
Both sides are struggling with injury worries. A big relief for the home side, however, will be the return of captain Alan McNally. The centre back played the remaining 20 minutes of last Friday’s game away to St Pat’s and seemed to have overcome his knee injury. McNally will be a welcome inclusion, as Drogheda will look to deal with the dual threat of Raf Cretaro and Romauld Boco.
Jamie Duffy will most likely start as a lone striker once again as both Robbie Martin and Robbie Farrell are still injured, however, it is expected that Martin along with Shane Barrett will resume training next week.
Robbie Clarke sat out the loss at Richmond last week and has been cleared to start this Friday. Drogheda’s two rising stars William Woods and Eoghan Osborne are both out, Woods suffering from a groin injury while Osborne picked up a knock playing for the Ireland U-17 squad.
Sligo may have to start without Conor O’Grady after he picked up a dead leg in the 0-0 draw at home to Bohs last week. He will be given a late fitness test before kick off and Sligo fans will be hoping O’Grady can take to the pitch.
Once again Paul Cook has to plan without the services of Mauro Almeida and Stephen Parkhouse while Brian Cash made a successful return to action having played out the final 18 minutes last week.
Sligo have only lost one game on the road so far this season while both Drogheda’s two points have come at home and United Park is the only place this season where Drogheda have really threatened to pick up points.
Extratime.ie Prediction: My head tells me this game will be a score draw, but deep down I think based on the way they perform in front of their fans, Drogheda can get their first win on Friday night. Drogheda 2 Sligo 1
About P.J. Murray
P.J. generally covers Drogheda games at HD Park and can generally be found at any Dublin ground when of a loose end on a Friday night.