Stern test for Longford Town away to Waterford FC

After last weekend's games the Town are third from bottom of the table on 21 points, the same as Finn Harps but the Town's goal difference is much superior than the Donegal side. 

Going into last Saturday night's home game against Wexford FC the Town were lying second from bottom but Saturday’s win over Wexford, who are managed by former Town assistant manager James Keddy, has moved us up a position. 

Supporters who have attended matches this season have seen that there isn't a lot between most teams and ourselves with the exception of the top 2 Galway and Waterford. 

Like Galway, Waterford are a full-time club and they are expected to be in the running for promotion to the Premier Division but Galway are in the driving seat as both chase automatic promotion back to the Premier Division. 

Waterford are the top scoring team in both divisions with 60 scored to date and they have only conceded 17. Title favourites Galway have scored 58 goals to date and have only conceded 8 goals.

Mohammed Boudiaf was the hero when the Town drew 1-1 on our last visit to the RSC back in February. Waterford took the lead after only 6 minutes when an unfortunate own goal by Darragh Lynch gave the blues an early lead but Mohammed got the Town back in the game on 56 minutes and as the midlanders came away with an excellent result.

 The second game between the clubs was at Bishopsgate at the end of May and after an exciting and tense game the game ended 0-0 to the disappointment of the Blues management team that now includes former Town and Waterford favourite Alan Reynolds. Alan returned to his home town club after being involved with Derry City, also in the management end of the club. 

Rennie was a very popular player with the old Waterford side many years ago but he also was a fan's favourite when he played for Longford.

 Keith Long, the former Bohemians manager, is the man entrusted in changing the fortunes of the Waterford club and he is hopeful that he will bring back this famous club to the Premier Division soon, whether it be in automatic promotion or through the play-offs. 

Last weekend Waterford played Finn Harps at the RSC and they hammered the Donegal side 6-1 and it wasn't the first time they beat Harps comprehensively as they also recorded a 7-1 victory over them earlier in the season. 

Scoring 60 goals to date from 21 games is some achievement and when you have strikers like Connor Parsons and Ronan Coughlan you can see the potential for scoring goals in this new look Waterford squad. 

Both Parsons and Coughlan helped themselves to two goals each against a luckless Harps side with the other goals coming from Roland Idowu and substitute Eddie Nolan, who replaced skipper Giles Phillips during the second half. When you look at this Waterford side you can see that they are capable of scoring goals from many positions.

 After the 4-0 defeat against Galway the previous weekend the Town bounced back on Saturday night last when Stephen Henderson's side had a hard earned 2-1 victory over James Keddy's side who are just outside the play-offs at the moment. 

Longford went into the game on Saturday with a few extra players back which in turn strengthened manager Henderson's hand when coming to picking his team.

 Beineon  O'Brien-Whitmarsh, who missed the Galway game was back, and he caused major problems for the Wexford defence and he set up the Town's opening goal with a splendid pass that opened up the Wexford rearguard and Cristian Mageruson made no mistake to give the Town the lead.

Longford allowed the visitors back into the game through some very poor defending, letting Danny Furlong score. The Town looked capable of scoring on a few occasions and it was no surprise that the Town went back into the lead in the 61st minute when Whitmarsh scored an excellent goal worthy of winning any game. 

 Kyle O'Connor made a welcome return to the team after his suspension and James Doona also returned to the team after a lengthy lay-off due to injury. 

There are rumours going around about the arrival of new players who will compensate for the players that are leaving also. 

The Town manager has stated that his squad needs some help, thus he is looking for some new arrivals in the coming weeks.

The good news is that former striker Jordan Adeyemo has returned to the club following a brief spell with Wexford this season.  

 Getting captain Shane Elworthy fit again  would be a massive boost for the Town and let's hope he will be back for the trip to the RSC. 

With only 21 points from 21 games at the moment the Town need to pick up points from all the remaining 15 games left for this season.