Finn Harps -v- Longford Town

• Aidan O'Donnell
• Fri, May 14 2010


AFTER a fairly miserable opening eleven games of the season, Finn Harps are given the chance to wipe the slate clean on Friday night as they begin the second series of games with a home fixture against Longford Town at Finn Park (kick-off 8pm).

Harps lost six of their first eleven league encounters with the highlight no doubt the away win over high-fliers Monaghan United in the second game of the season and the lowlight being last Friday's shock result at home to, until then winless, Mervue United. Harps are now without a win themselves in the last six, losing four and drawing two.

Their most recent defeat came on Monday night as they went down for the second time in a week to Derry City and, as consequence, crash out of the league cup.

“There was a sign of improvement and it was certainly a lot better than the game against Mervue,” Harps manager James Gallagher said. “However, you have to take into account the fact that Derry made ten changes for the game and we still lost. We again gave away two poor goals and that is killing us at the moment. We done a lot of good stuff in the match, but all in all it was a mixed bag.”



Six of the first eleven league games were at home, with Harps picking up eight points from a possible eighteen. Of their five away outings, they tallied just three points from a possible fifteen, losing four on the road.

Longford beat Harps in the first game of the season, after coming from a goal down to win 3-2 at Flancare Park. They currently sit two points ahead of Harps in the table with three wins and two defeats from the last five outings, including a win over Waterford United at home.

“It's certainly not getting any easier. We said last week's game was a 'must-win' game and we didn't win it, so there is added pressure on us to get a much needed victory on Friday night. We will only do that by putting everything we have into it for the ninety minutes and keeping it tight at the back and we have to start taking the opportunities we are creating. A win would breed confidence within the team.

“The good thing is that every game is another opportunity to put things right and that's something we need to start doing. We need to keep it tight at the back and get back to keeping clean sheets, and then nicking a goal when the opportunity presents itself. If we are keeping clean sheets and winning games, the confidence will start to come back again. We have to show that we are playing with pride, playing for the jersey but we most also play with our heads and keep concentration for the entire game.”

Ciaran Gallagher is the only player unavailable to the Harps manager for tonight's game, with Jonathan Minnock (hamstring), Tommy Bonner (shin) and Davitt Walsh (flu) all due to come back into the squad having sat out the midweek cup clash with Derry.