Waterford FC are in action tonight when they take on Treaty United in the First Division Play-offs at Markets Field.
Danny Searle’s men finished second in the league table following their season ending 4-2 win over Athlone Town last week, and are taking on the Limerick side who finished in 5th as a result.
Should the Blues conquer Treaty across two legs - the second of which will be played at the RSC on Saturday, then they will meet the winners of Longford Town and Galway United, before potentially taking on either UCD or Finn Harps with a place in the First Division at stake.
The Blues will be looking to bounce back to Premier Division football at the first time of asking, having been beaten by UCD when finishing 9th in the Premier Division in last year’s series.
Phoenix Patterson finished the season as the First Division top scorer with 17 goals, and it’s expected that the Scotsman will partner Wassim Aouchria and Junior Quitirna in the front three for tonight’s clash with the Treaty men.
The last time the sides met, Waterford were comfortable winners, and although Treaty are without a win in their last five outings - Blues boss Danny Searle says form goes out the window when it comes to knockout football.
“We’re looking forward to the game and we can’t wait for it to come around. The players are ready to get going and we look forward to kick off. We’ve done so well as a team and club to finish second and come into the game in good form, but in cup-style knockouts like the playoffs we need to make sure we perform on the day when form can go out the window a little. We’ve seen the support we’ve got over the past few months and we know there’ll be a big crowd travelling on Wednesday and the players want to give those fans something to shout about in Markets Field before bringing the tie back to the RSC on Saturday.”
WLR will bring you the game live this evening with thanks to McConnell’s Toyota Waterford, with Ray Scott and John Frost on commentary duty.
