Can the recent positive home form for Longford Town continue against Cobh Ramblers?

Cobh Ramblers are the visitors to Bishopsgate on Saturday night, kick-off 7.30pm.

The new look management team under caretaker boss Wayne Groves are beginning to make teams around them get a bit worried as this Longford Town side have shown that they are not an easy touch anymore. 

Going into the game against third in the table Athlone, manager Groves had to plan without two players who starred against Treaty United and the two players who came in made a huge contribution to last Saturday's draw.

 Kyle O'Connor, who is playing superb football at left back, and Luke Wade-Slater both missed out due to suspensions but one has to say that Oisin Hand and Jordan Tallon who came in to start against Athlone didn't let the side down. 

The performance of the officials left a lot to be desired. The Athlone goal came from a free-kick that should have been awarded to us.

Wayne Groves is doing a great job as caretaker manager and he has to be complimented along with his backroom staff.

On the injury front we had some good news at the weekend when Karl Chambers was back on the bench with a protective face mask and the Town's longest serving player replaced Ross Fay after 82 minutes in a tactical change. 

The news on the other injured players is not very encouraging as Jamie Egan, Chris Lyons, Aaron Walsh and Dean George are still unavailable and Samuel Clarke also missed the Athlone game. 

With so many players out due to injury it gives other players a chance to show the management that they are able to fill in and thankfully all the lads are doing very well. 

Groves made a double substitution on 75 minutes when he introduced two under 20s and both didn't let the manager down. 

Emmanuel James replaced Conor Crowley and Guilherme Rego Priosti replaced Jordan Tallon. The two players from Longford and Strokestown did very well for the final quarter and both were involved in the equaliser with the goal headed to the net by James in a fantastic finish.

Our makeshift team with players playing out of position are doing very well after an awful start to the season. We don't want to get carried away over recent results but there is a massive improvement overall and with that in mind we need to get another three points on the board in next Saturday's game. 

The Town have played Cobh already this season in Cobh and the game ended all square. The Town took the lead on 40 mins when a Charlie O'Brien OG gave the visitors a deserved lead. Cobh got back into the game when David Bosnjak scored for the home side in the 69th minute.

There has been a lot of changes for Cobh this season as former manager Shane Keegan has left the club and he has been replaced by Gary Hunt. Losing Keegan is a big blow to Cobh who also lost some good players. Former Town players Lee Steacy and Jack Doherty have left for Shamrock Rovers and Cork City and the experienced Charlie Lyons also left the club. 

Cobh held the upper hand against the Town last season as out of four games played the Town only got one point. They picked up the point for a 0-0 draw that was played in Bishopsgate in early March. 

The second meeting between the clubs was in early June in Cobh and the home side won the game with  Wilson Waweru scoring the only goal against a Town team who had a player sent off in the 84th minute. 

At the end of July the Town had home advantage and once again Waweru was the goal scorer in a one nil victory. 

The final game between the clubs was played at the end of September in Cobh and the home side won 2-0 with Waweru scoring the opening goal on 38 mins and the second goal came from  former Town player Jack Doherty who made the victory secure with goal number two for Cobh in the 90th minute.

Hopefully, the current Longford squad can make amends with a win at Bishopsgate on Saturday night. 

SSE Airtricity League First Division

Longford Town v Cobh Ramblers

At Bishopsgate: Saturday 25 May

Kick-off 7.30pm