Longford Town away to Finn Harps in the fierce battle for a place in the promotion play-offs

As it stands, Galway will be crowned champions in the next few weeks as they are currently 16 points ahead of Waterford who should end up as runners-up and after that there will be a dog fight for the three remaining play-off spots. 

Currently, Cobh Ramblers and Athlone look like holding on to the third and fourth play-off spots with 42 and 40 points to date but the final play-off spot is up for grabs between five teams with six points between Wexford in 5th place at the moment on 35 points down to Finn Harps in 9th place with 29 points all in contention. 

When you look at the statistics any one of the five could get that vital play-off spot. Wexford currently occupy fifth place with 35 points down to Harps in 9th place with 29 points. Whoever can put a good run together can get the fourth play off spot which is being occupied by Wexford. 

Last weekend Longford Town were idle due to the FAI Cup games and that might have given them an advantage over Finn Harps who had a home FAI Cup game on Friday night last when they beat Skerries Town 5-0 in a one sided game. 

Dave Rogers side who are a full time team were far too good for the amateurs from the Leinster Senior League. The home side took the lead in the 3rd minute when Max Hutchison drove home after Ryan Flood's shot was blocked. Flood doubled the lead on 18 minutes with an excellent free kick from around 30 yards. 

Patrick Ferry increased Harps lead two minutes after halftime. BJ Banda who is  back playing great football for Harps set up substitute Sean O'Donnell for the 4th goal. American Flood got his second and Harps fifth for an easy victory. 

The Town and Harps played each other three times already this season and the Donegal side have two wins and a draw going into the final meeting of the clubs in the current season. 

The first meeting of the clubs was back on March 18 when a very disputable penalty in the 81st minute by Ryan Rainey gave Harps an undeserved three points. The away game came next at the end of April and it ended one all. The Harps striker Da Silva gave Harps the lead on the half hour mark but Aodh Dervin equalised with a great long range shot in the 42nd minute and by all accounts the draw was a fair result. 

The third meeting between the clubs took place on June 2 and Harps got away by the odd goal in a five goal cracker. Town's in form striker Cristian Magerusan gave the Town the lead in the 35th minute but two goals in four minutes by Sean O'Donnell 54 mins and Ryan Flood 58 minutes gave Harps the lead and Beineon O'Brien-Whitmarsh got the Town back on level terms on 74 mins but Harps stole all three points when Duffy scored the all important winner at Bishopsgate. 

The Town need to get back into the groove on Friday if they are to keep up their chase for a play off spot at the end of the season. 

In the last five games played the Town have three wins and two defeats while the home side have two wins,  a draw and two defeats during the same period. 

Harps, as stated earlier, are a full time club and have 14 players already signed for next season with American Flood on a two year contract. Harps have used many players this season and the return of Tony McNamee to the club is a big boost to the Harps management. 

The Town had two great away victories recently when coming from behind to beat Treaty 2-1 and Bray 3-2 to pick up six valuable points and put the team in with a chance of a playoff spot. 

The game against Athlone was a massive disappointment for the large home crowd when the visitors struck late with two goals from big striker Pierrot, the winner being one of the best goals scored in the league this season. 

Some supporters were wondering why leading scorer Cristian Magerusan was replaced late on and him on for a hat trick. The Romanian striker is in great form at the moment as is his strike partner O'Brien-Whitmarsh who was replaced by another in form striker Jordan Adeyemo. 

The facts at this stage of the season is that the Town need to pick up at least fifteen points from the remaining games to keep us in with a shout of a play-off spot. 

Manager Henderson has a decent panel at his disposal at this stage of the season and it's now up to the players to repay the manager for his confidence in them. 

Three points can be taken from Finn Park on Friday to put the pressure on the other four teams in contention for the last play-off spot.