A come from behind rallying cry was needed for the Blues last night if they were to salvage anything from their clash with Derry City - but no such surge arrived.
Declan Devine's side claimed a 2-nil at the Brandywell and with it sit sixth in the table.
Marc Bircham's team can be commended for not giving up, but while fighting for a result until the last minute, the home side couldn't be reeled in.
The Blues boss was in studio for this Saturday's "On The Ball with Nigel Kelly" to discuss the result and where it leaves his team with their upcoming fixture against Finn Harps on the horizon.
Live on @wlrfm in a moment with @Nigelgkelly to chat @WaterfordFCie pic.twitter.com/UQqXdWVkqC
— Marc Bircham (@marcbircham) July 3, 2021
"It was always going to be difficult. I said I hate making excuses, but we had such a strange week with the loan players going back, transfer window, game the next day after the transfer window; we were leaving the hotel to the game not knowing what players that we had and which had been registered to play."
"All through the week, we was working on different shapes and formations. At one time, a couple of hours before we left for the game they only had I think 14 players, and three of them were goalies."
"So it was always going to be difficult but still no excuses we had a game plan - it was to get into half time nil-nil, which was working perfectly and we just gave a really poor goal away. I know it's fortunate on them -I think it took three deflections and managed to just get over the line but that really really hit us"
With the transfer window now open, Bircham's eye will be trained on players take can come in and make a difference. He's already lost Adam O' Reilly and Jamie Mascoll who's loan spells have come to an end, and he also confirmed that Eric Molloy has left the club with the player and the club unable to come to terms on a new contract, "We offered him a better contract and then he asked for a lot more money which we couldn't produce."
The club are understood to be in the process of bringing in as many as six more players to bolster the squad, with two already confirmed before kick-off last night.
SIGNINGS ✍️ Waterford FC can confirm the signings of Max Hutchison and George Forrest.
20-year-old Hutchison is son of former Everton and Liverpool midfielder Don, while 21-year-old Forrest is a centre-back previously with Crawley Town.
More information to follow…#WaterfordFC pic.twitter.com/bOZ48H9oHs— Waterford FC (@WaterfordFCie) July 2, 2021
While recruitment continues at the RSC, Bircham's Focus remains on the next game with Finn Harps waiting for the Blues arrival in Ballybofey, "With the players in the squad that we've got here, we're more than comfortable going up there and getting the result."
"We've done it at Longford when that was a pressure game, and we went up there and we was quite comfortable in the end. We just got to try and eliminate individual mistakes in the team and giving really poor goals away."
"When we score goals, we have to work really hard and there's passing combinations, crosses going in, and we're finishing; when teams are scoring against us they're very very weak goals and that that's what we have to try and eliminate from our game."
Next up for the Blues will be another long trip to Ballybofey. It's never really been a journey that's paid off for the side, but this time around the team will need to look at the reward on offer for a win. Three points from Ollie Horgan's men will see the gap to Harps reduced to 4 points - a deficit that is more than attainable with a couple of results going for Waterford and against the Donegal outfit.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3agA0L5cAxfUEg3WMwtcMW?si=spxSqM5nQ9CVak4t4qZSRQ&dl_branch=1
