Waterford FC boss Danny Searle says he’s not concerned with whatever Cork City & Galway United are doing for the time being, as he prepares his side to take on Wexford at the RSC this evening.
The Blues saw their eight game winning run come to an abrupt end at Eamonn Deacy Park last time out, as Killian Brouder’s header saw Waterford lose further ground on the top two with time running out on their bid for an immediate return to the League of Ireland Premier Division.
Speaking to WLR Sport ahead of this evenings game, the Blues head coach is well aware of the scale of task his side face ahead of his first derby in the dugout.
“I believe they’re unbeaten in six - they play with a real freedom, and you can see the work they do off the pitch. It’s going to be a tough test for the lads. Obviously, we’ve already spoken about the disappointment of last week with the Galway game. When you watch the game back and speak to the players, they didn’t see it coming - the defeat. They were comfortable in the game. It’s those little details that can cost you. We need to be switched on and focused. We know it’s a derby, but we’ve got to put that aside and focus on doing what we need to do, getting points on the board and putting in a display.”
When asked if he would have one eye on the league table, Searle was adamant that his side will remain primarily focused on what they can do for themselves, not factors beyond their control. He plans to have his team ready to capitalise should either of the top two begin to stumble.
“If you look at the last nine games, as an outsider - we’ve won eight of them. We’re not throwing the baby out with the bath water or downing tools and sulking. The bottom line is we’ve been on a fantastic run. We’ll bounce back and make sure we put that run back in place tonight. We can’t worry about Galway and Cork. The only time we need to worry about them is when we play them again. If you end up focusing on the opposition week in, week out; who they’re playing, if they’re dropping points - you take the eye off what you’re trying to focus on. The bottom line is we need to try and win every game that we possibly can so if anything did happen to them, that we’re in prime position to take advantage of that. The eight wins in a row has put us in a position to.”
Preparations for the Wexford clash have been boosted by the arrival of former Algeria underage international, Wassim Aouachria from Charlton Athletic. Searle says the fans will get an opportunity to see the new man strut his stuff up front on Friday night - and is adamant that they’ll like what they see.
“Wass has come here to play, so he’ll obviously go straight in the squad. I’ve worked with him before and he is an infectious character. He’s great in the dressing room, brings real physicality and desire to the team and he wants to be successful. He is willing to do the bits that he needs to to be successful. I’m confident that the fans will love him, because he’ll run through brick walls for the badge. You don’t often get that with new players that come in, but he’s already fit in. Wassim has done visits to schools and soccer schools and he’s in. He’s part of the fabric already. I’m excited to have him here.”
Aouachria comes in as a direct replacement for Louis Britton who recently departed for Leeside. While the Blues wanted to keep him, Searle says there’s not any hard feelings, and it’s time for everyone to move on.
“We’re disappointed to have lost Louis. We made him two good offers from our perspective. We tried to keep him. I don’t know why there seems to be this theory that we didn’t. We did. We worked hard to try and keep him. We’ve got what we’ve got. Cork have got what they’ve got. That was more attractive to him, but the important thing for us is that we had a contingency plan if things didn’t work out - and we’ve been working on the deal for Wassim with a while. We made sure to get it over the line.”
Automatic promotion seems somewhat out of the question given that the Blues trail a resurgent Cork side by 11 points with the number of games left dwindling by the minute. However, until it’s mathematically impossible for Waterford to win the league - that’s something that Danny Searle and his management team won’t give up on. Regardless of what happens between now and the close of campaign, the aim remains the same, whatever way it can be achieved.
When asked if their automatic promotion hopes are over, Searle responded:
“Not at all. Is it difficult? Yes. Is it going to be tough? Yes. Are we relying on other people to do us favours? Yes. I think if you look at the history of leagues, the amount of times where a team seems to be relatively out of the picture then comes through and actually ends up winning the league, you see that a lot. Our focus is to win as many games as we can. We want to get promoted. Ideally, by winning the league so we don’t have to go through the play-offs. If we have to go through the play-offs, we’ll go through the play-offs. The bottom line is we need to make sure that come the business end of the season, we’re in a prime position to capitalise on both situations.”
Waterford FC entertain Wexford FC at 7.45 this evening at the RSC.
