Waterford FC – Match Preview Away v Longford Town – Saturday, April 1st 2017

Waterford FC are back on the road this weekend for the fourth match in six with a trip to the City Calling Stadium to face Longford Town.

The Blues made it 10 points from the opening five matches of the 2017 season last weekend with a 2-0 home win against Wexford FC.

The Blues took the lead after just ten minutes as Mark O’Sullivan played a one-two with David McDaid before firing past Doyle. Good work from Kenny McEvoy in the second half saw him cross for O’Sullivan to head past Doyle to make it 2-0 and seal the three points for the Blues.

The result was the third win of the season and moves the club to joint top of the Division 1 table ahead of this Saturday’s match versus Longford Town.

When the sides last faced each other in the league, during the 2014 season, Longford Town won three of the four meetings; the opening game ending in a 0-0 draw. That season saw Longford promoted to the Premier Division.

“It was a tough week all round obviously with losing Ryan but on the pitch I thought that we did well and played okay. We got the three points which is important,” says Blues striker David McDaid.

“To be fair, every game in this league is going to be hard and is going to be a battle. I am sure that Longford will be up for it considering our result. They haven’t really performed to the level that they were expected to do. It will definitely be a tough game.

“Obviously promotion is the number one aim for us here at Waterford. For me, I don’t have any objectives except to score a few goals.”

Winger Derek Daly has started the last two games. He knows the Longford game will be a big battle.

“It’s good to get to play the last couple of games. I know that I played two off the bench but to actually get a start and play most of the game is good. I’m starting to settle in and hopefully I will start to find my feet and start providing more when we’re winning. The last game there were one or two delivers that I wasn’t too happy with but some of them I’ve got right so hopefully things will fall more into place for me.

“I think that Longford will be wanting to prove themselves in this game as they were one of the favourites for promotion. We’ve started well and they haven’t so they’ll see this as if they can get a win over us it will be a big turning point.

“In my opinion, we are a stronger side so we just have to get out there on Saturday night and get the win.”

Team News: Sander Puri returned to training this week following an injury that has kept him out for the previous two matches and will be assessed ahead of the game. David Mulcahy remains a doubt having missed last week’s game against Wexford.

(Image Credit: Noel Browne)