Waterford FC will be hoping to get back on the horse this evening after two disappointing results in recent weeks.
They make the trip to St. Colmans Park where Cobh will also be looking to put their season back on track.
Ramblers have a new management team in place with Shane Keegan at the helm and the new boss has a massive job of work to contend with. This evening's hosts have lost six on the spin and have not won since April 18th when they beat Athlone 3-2.
Following their losses to Galway and Wexford, the Blues are now 10 points adrift of second place.
Manager Danny Searle is hoping to get a response from his team after their lacklustre and sloppy 3-1 loss to Wexford. A late Shane Griffin goal made the full-time scoreline look slightly more respectable, but Searle was less than pleased with how his team went out that night.
"You start the second half and start to get a foothold in the game and then we make - I'm not sure if you can even call them silly errors - I think it's criminal individual errors in regards to the understanding of how to win a football match. You watch the three goals back and it's like a horror show."
Soft goals have been a concern of not only Searle, but his predecessor Ian Morris also. The London native is admittedly working with a mostly young squad and was been without the services of the experienced Eddie Nolan last time out. He will have to plan without the Waterford man this weekend again as his injury looks to be long-term.
It's a huge turn of fortunes for Waterford in the last two games. They were aiming for their ninth consecutive win just three weeks ago and now find themselves looking for a first win in three.
"If that keeps happening we've got massive issues. If that Wexford performance in the second half allows us to develop and mature...then you might look back in six or seven weeks and think it was the best thing to happen to us. That's only going to be judged by how they react and that's been the focus this week" said Searle.
The manager was adamant this week that a reaction was needed. He was begrudgingly willing to accept that bad results will happen, but they can't keep happening, especially when the losses come in a similar manner.
"Reactions is what we're looking for. Sometimes it's not your actions that define you it's your reactions. You can utilise a situation to make you stronger and that's what we've had to do. Wexford identified some weaknesses that if we're going to have any success whatsoever, we need to eradicate them as quickly as possible."
With another game to follow next Friday (Longford) the team will have a short reprieve from league games when they turn attention to their opening game of the FAI Cup. For better or worse they have been drawn against defending Champions St. Pats where Richmond Park will be the venue on July 31st.
