Waterford United get back to the bread and butter of the league on Friday night when they host Athlone Town at the RSC (KO 7.45pm), with United looking for victory to take them into the mid-season break on a high note.

Having tasted defeat in their last two league outings, the Blues were glad of the morale-boosting victory over Carrigaline United in the FAI Ford Cup 3rd Round last weekend. Manager Stephen Henderson was delighted to see his side get back to basics as they ran out comfortable 6-0 winners over the Munster Senior League side, and he will be looking for a similar performance level against Athlone this weekend, to cap what has been quite a successful first half of the season.

Henderson has pointed up areas where his side could still improve, however, mainly in the area of goal-getting from midfield, as the greatest burden has fallen on the shoulders of his two first choice strikers, Willie John Kiely and Graham Cummins, who have responded magnificently with 25 between them in all competitions so far. Kiely will miss Friday’s match through suspension though, a suspension which highlights both the over-reliance of the team on the two players, and the small size of the squad, another area where Henderson hopes to be able to make inroads in the coming weeks. The attacking options available to the Blues boss will have been boosted by David Grincell notching his fourth of the season in the Carrigaline game, though he has yet to open his account in the league.

The Blues will have to be on top form to ensure victory over their visitors though. In the reverse fixture, at the end of March, United had to come from behind to take all three points at Lissywoollen, and there were those four draws against the Midlanders last season, two of which came at the RSC of course. Indeed Athlone’s away record is significantly better than their home form this season, 10 points from six away games, as opposed to five from eight at home, and the challenge the game will pose will not be taken lightly.

As said above, Henderson will have to plan without the services of Willie John Kiely, but he will otherwise have a full squad to choose from. Several knocks and niggling injuries from last weekend have cleared up, and an injury to Michael Devine’s knee which caused him to be substituted as a precaution at half-time will need further treatment, but will not prevent him from playing on Friday. The squad was also hugely boosted by the signing on Tuesday of midfielder Dave Warren, back in a blue shirt after parting company with the club at the end of last season. Warren will go straight into contention for a place in the squad for the Athlone game.

Henderson Quotes:
On the Carrigaline match:
“It was good to get back to basics again after losing our last two league games.”
“I think tonight you could see that there was a lot more urgency about the players and about their performance because we closed them down and made them make mistakes, which I was delighted with to be honest.”
“We managed to score six but we could and should have scored more goals and effectively the game could have ended up in double figures.”
“No disrespect to Carrigaline, but this was all about Athlone next Friday. We had to get back to doing what we are good at and thankfully we did that here tonight.”

On the games ahead:
“We have Athlone Town at home next … and we’ll be hoping to get our season back on track with a win in that match.”
“Coming up to the break, it’s fair to say we’re having an excellent campaign so far, winning the Munster Senior Cup, we’re in the semi-final of the League [EA Sports] Cup, into the last 16 of the FAI Cup and three points off the top of the league, it’s so far so good and the players have been magnificent for us.”
“But we have to be honest and say that we need the midfield players to start rowing in with goals now.”
“While there’s no doubt that the two boys [strikers Willie John Kiely and Graham Cummins] are on fire, if you take their goals out of the equation we could actually be in a bit of trouble, so hopefully now the midfielders will start to create and take chances in front of goal.”
“You saw tonight that we only had three players on the bench after losing Paul and Alan Carey to injury so we’re down to the bare bones at the moment, and I’m hopeful that we can sign a couple of players during the July transfer window.”
“If we are to be serious about winning the league we will need new faces, hopefully I will have a busy few weeks in July bringing in fresh blood.”

Suspensions:
Willie John Kiely – 1 match (4 penalty points)

Injury Update:
none

League Top Scorers:
10 -   Willie John Kiely
8 -     Graham Cummins
2 -     Gary Dunphy
         Kenny Browne
1 -     Paul McCarthy
         Joe Mulcahy
         Kevin Waters

Top Scorers (All Competitive):
14 -    Willie John Kiely (2 FAI Ford Cup, 2 EA Sports Cup)
11 -    Graham Cummins (2 FAI Ford Cup, 1 EA Sports Cup)
4 -     David Grincell (1 FAI Ford Cup, 3 MSC)
3 -     Gary Dunphy (1 MSC)
         Joe Mulcahy (1 FAI Ford Cup, 1 MSC)
2 -     Kenny Browne
         Kevin Waters (1 EA Sports Cup)
         John Kearney (1 MSC, 1 EA Sports Cup)
1 -     Paul McCarthy

Form:
League: DWLWW WWWWW DWLL
All: WDWLW WWWWW WWWDW WLWLW

Last Match:    Waterford United 6 (Kiely 7, 28, Mulcahy 44, Cummins 68pen, 83, Grincell 86)  -  Carrigaline United 0

Previous Meetings:
29 Mar 09       L      Athlone Town   v   Waterford United       1 – 2
03 Oct 08       L      Waterford United   v   Athlone Town       0 – 0
29 Jul 08        L      Athlone Town   v   Waterford United       1 – 1
20 May 08      L      Waterford United   v   Athlone Town       1 – 1
21 Mar 08       L      Athlone Town   v   Waterford United       0 – 0

Results This Season:
13 Jun 09           h            Carrigaline United (FAIFC)      6-0       W  
05 Jun 09           a            Shelbourne (LOIFD)               0-1       L
02 Jun 09           n            Rockmount (MSC)                 2-1      W
30 May 09          h            Wexford Youths (LOIFD)        1-2       L
22 May 09          a            Sporting Fingal (LOIFD)         4-1       W
19 May 09          h            Shamrock Rovers (EASC)       2-1       W
15 May 09          a            UCD (LOIFD)                       0-0       D
09 May 09          h            Kildare County (LOIFD)         2-0       W
04 May 09          a            FC Carlow (EASC)                3-1       W
02 May 09          h            Mervue United (LOIFD)         2-0       W
24 Apr 09           a            Limerick FC (LOIFD)             2-0       W
22 Apr 09           a            Clonmel Town (MSC)            2-1       W
18 Apr 09           h            Monaghan United (LOIFD)     6-0       W
11 Apr 09           a            Finn Harps (LOIFD)              3-1       W
04 Apr 09           h            Longford Town (LOIFD)        1-0        W
29 Mar 09           a            Athlone Town (LOIFD)          2-1       W
20 Mar 09           h            Shelbourne (LOIFD)             0-1        L
13 Mar 09           a            Wexford Youths (LOIFD)       1-0       W
07 Mar 09           h            Sporting Fingal (LOIFD)        1-1        D
28 Feb 09           h            Douglas Hall (MSC)              2-0       W
20 Feb 09           a            Mayfield United (Fr)             4-1       W
13 Feb 09           h            Junior League XI (Fr)           3-0       W
07 Feb 09           a            Cork City (Fr)                     1-0       W

Next 5 Matches:
04 Jul 09             a           Longford Town (LOIFD)
11 Jul 09             h           Finn Harps (LOIFD)
17 Jul 09             a           Monaghan United (LOIFD)
25 Jul 09             h           Limerick (LOIFD)
01 Aug 09           a           Mervue United (LOIFD)

Betting:
Waterford: 4/11
Carrigaline: 15/2
Draw: 11/4