Waterford FC make the 250-mile journey to the Ryan McBride Brandywell tomorrow night (Friday) for a clash with Derry City.
There have been two meetings between the sides so far this season with the takings set at one game apiece, setting this up for a tasty tie on Lone Moor Road.
When Waterford travelled up earlier this season, Kevin Sheedy was still in charge of the team, but it did provide a first win for the former Irish international.
That game ended 2-1 to the Blues, with both Shane Griffin and Oscar Brennan finding the back of the net - Brennan also found a red card for his troubles.
Photo Credit Noel Browne
While in May, The Candystripes came to Suirside, where a lone Ronan Boyce goal was enough to see them claim three points.
That home game with Derry was Marc Bircham's first game in charge of the team and with the covid issues rife, it proved too great a task to claim even a point.
Since then, the former QPR midfielder, who this week was busy extolling the efforts of his second home country (see below), has spent significant time and effort on the training ground with his team, with recent results showing the effects.
Locals are going mental that’s it coming home ... calm down chaps long way to go still 😂😂🏴🏴🏴 pic.twitter.com/7dY4w9zq6k
— Marc Bircham (@marcbircham) June 29, 2021
Two wins, two draws, and one loss is his five-game report card, but the side remains ninth in the table with just Longford below.
Having spent some time out of the team through injury and suspension, defender Kyle Ferguson told Matt Keane this week that the team are in a much better place at the moment.
"Huge credit to the gaffer. We've been getting better every day in training. I think its only a matter of time before we really start to climb up the table"
The recent form (2W, 2D, 1L) looks a lot more healthy than the first round of games and while a significant gap remains between the Blues and eight placed Finn Harps, its never looked more likely that the gap can be reduced.
Ferguson says "Two good results back-to-back. Last week, we could have won the game. We were unlucky not to win it, but we'll be looking to build on that again this week."
Photo Credit Noel Browne
The boss has spoken at length since his arrival of wanting to get more from the team on the pitch and that fitness levels were not to his satisfaction, but recent performances have shown his influence take root.
"We want to improve every week. There was things in last week's game that we need to improve on. Every week we seem to be getting a little bit better and our fitness is up there. The last game we played with Derry, it was so hard because lads hadn't trained for nearly two weeks - they'd only had one a half sessions, so we couldn't press them, we couldn't do much with it. We're in a much better place this time around"
Waterford manager Marc Bircham reacts after his side conceded their first goal during the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division match between Bohemians and Waterford at Dalymount Park in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Ferguson's teammate Price Mutswunguma has relished the new training regime under Bircham, "We are where we are in the table for a reason. All of us lads want the club to now rise up the table and we are prepared to put in the hard work"
Photo Credit Noel Browne
Mutswunguma may not get any sympathy from his manager if there are long days on the training ground as Bircham says "A day off for me is when their finished by half 12 or 1 o clock and can go home. Days off for me? It's playing football. I'd want to do that on my days off anyway"
