Waterford FC – Match Preview Away v Athlone Town
Friday, June 2, 2017
Kick Off: 7.45pm
Referee: David Keeler
Waterford FC will be looking to make amends when they travel to take on Athlone Town in the SSE Airtricity League First Division on Friday night after the Blues lost to the Midlands outfit on the opening day of the season.
A Colm Coss strike two minutes from time gave the Lissywollen outfit all three points and when the two sides went head to head at the RSC in the second series of games, Waterford keeper Matthew Connor saved a late penalty as the Blues held on to secure a 2-1 win.
Friday’s clash between the two sides will begin the third series of matches in the division with Waterford sitting on top of the table, two points clear of both Cobh Ramblers and UCD ahead of the mid-season break.
Midfielder Garry Comerford is hoping that his side can continue their recent good run of form. “I thought that we did enough in Cobh last week to come away with all three points but I suppose you would have taken a point down there before the game. It’s a tough place to go but we definitely had enough chances to win the match.
“It was important that we didn’t lose to keep the unbeaten run going somewhat. When you take in the amount of injuries that we’ve had and the fact that we probably haven’t had a settled team, I think that we’re doing really to be top of the league.
“We know that nothing will be easy when we travel to take on Athlone on Friday night as they are probably one of the toughest teams that we’ve played. It still pains us somewhat that we lost to them in the first half. It was a night when nothing went right for us.
“When we played them in the RSC it was a very difficult game where we seemed to be in control until they scored. We gave away a penalty that Matthew saved so we know that nothing will be easy on Friday night.
“It would be good to go into the mid-season break on the back of a win and to be still top of the table. I think that people have yet to see the best of this squad of players and hopefully that will come in time.”
Team News:
The Blues continue to be without the services of Dean O’Halloran, Sander Puri and Ian McLoughlin, with the latter close to a return, ahead of the trip to the Athlone Town Stadium, while club captain David Mulcahy is also ruled out through injury. Patrick McClean is rated doubtful after the shoulder injury he sustained against Cobh Ramblers last weekend.
