Drogheda United host Longford Town at United Park on Friday evening in a clash between two sides who were in the First Division play-offs last season.
Drogheda manager Tim Clancy has been speaking prior to the fixture:
Opening game – 2-0 win away to Cobh and a clean sheet.
“It was very stop start in the first half. We kept going, we tweaked a couple of things at half time. We got a great goal through Chris (Lyons) and then thankfully later on we got a penalty and Sean slotted it away.”
“That was important. There was a couple of incidents in the game where we would like to do better in.
“I think David (Odumosu) didn’t really have many saves to make, a couple straight at him but his handling was good. He spilled one free kick near the end but reacted really well.
“Apart from that, I don’t think we were in any trouble whatsoever so it was a really pleasing thing.”
Injuries – Luca Gratzer, Mark Hughes, Jordan Adeyemo.
“Jordan Adeyemo was out (of the Cobh game), he’d a stiff back. We’d be hoping that he and Mark Hughes will be back for tomorrow and involved in the squad.
“Luca, his foot his still at him. We probably though he might be a little bit earlier than he is at the minute but with the injury he had, you are always looking at a six week window. Luca is about four weeks into that now so we’re hoping to see a good bit of progress there in the next couple of weeks.”
Longford – 2019 form.
“Both squads have lost some personnel and made changes. It’s very hard to see this early in the season where everyone is going to be but I’d certainly hope that we are able to have as good a season as we did last year.
“I’d have no doubt that Longford would be one of the main teams at the top of the league. They’d a good win themselves on Saturday at home to Rovers II.
“It’s a big game so early in the season. It’s one we are preparing for. Hopefully we can get a good result and do better in the head to head against Longford.
“That’s where we are at. If you look at last year’s games against Longford, we’d lots of chances but didn’t take them and got punished for that.
“Hopefully this season, we can be a little bit tighter at the back and in games where it doesn’t go for us in the attacking end of the pitch, we can still come away with something out of the game.”
Fans
“The support we got at the end of last season was fantastic, the Shelbourne game onwards, we had unbelievable crowds. If that’s the crowd that turns up, it’s only a good thing. I think we showed in them games and how well we played, that the bigger the crowd, it helps us.”
Injured: Luca Gratzer (foot)
Suspended: None.
Drogheda United Goalscorers 2020:
Chris Lyons – 1
Sean Brennan – 1
Drogheda United vs Longford Town H2H:
League: 13/7/19 – Longford Town 2-1 Drogheda United
League: 3/5/19 – Drogheda United 0-1 Longford Town
League: 2/3/19 – Longford Town 3-0 Drogheda United
League: 14/9/18 – Drogheda United 2-1 Longford Town
League: 15/6/18 – Longford Town 1-0 Drogheda United
