"In my time at the club, we haven't come anywhere near Galway, so Friday night is an opportunity for us to sort of readdress that a little bit, but we know what tough opposition we face in a highly motivated, highly organised Galway team." - Waterford FC Head Coach, Keith Long.
The Blues are back in the RSC this Friday night as Galway come to town in the League Of Ireland Premier Division.
Round ten of the competition signals the start of the second series of games with the Blue sitting mid-table in sixth and just one point better off than Galway ahead of kick-off.
In their nine games to date, the blues have won three, drawn two and lost four, while Galway have won three, lost one and drawn four, but they do have a game in hand over this evening's opponents.
Last weekend, Keith Long's side stopped the rot to claim their first win in four games, beating Bohemians 1-0 at Dalymount.
In their four games leading up to Bohs - where they faced off with former assistant coach Alan Reynolds for the first time - the Blues had lost to Derry (A), Sligo (H) and Shamrock Rovers (H), while they drew 0-0 with Dundalk (A).
New Additions
Reynolds has been replaced in the backroom team by Fleetwood Town's Matt Lawlor who has made the switch across the channel this week.
"When I found out Matt was available and keen to come across it was a no-brainer for me to get him involved in the football club," said Long.
"I think we see the game in a similar way, I think we're aligned in terms of what we want from the team and for Matt to come and develop himself as a coach in a full-time senior environment, I think it's really important for him in the next step in his career."
Reynolds will be missed at the RSC, however. The Waterford native carried a huge amount of experience in his role under Long with time as a manager at Waterford previously, before assistant stints with Derry, St Pats, Dundalk and the Ireland U21s.
Times change though and Long says Lawlor's presence has already been felt in training as they prepare for the visit of the Tribesmen.
"I've enjoyed the positivity that Matt has brought into training this week. I've enjoyed having that different voice on the training ground to a degree. Matt is a highly capable coach, a highly regarded coach at Fleetwood and he comes into us on an interim basis. There were a number of different options available to me. Conversations were had over a number of months, when I found out Matt was available, it was a no brainer to me."
Back To Winning Ways
They may have stopped the rot last weekend when Beating Reynolds' Bohs outfit, but this evening is another challenge as they hunt a first home win since the start of March when they beat St Pats 3-1.
"We were frustrated with them two games [Shamrock Rovers & Sligo Rovers] because we thought we were definitely in the games and we deserved something from them," says defender Darragh Power, noting that "in Premier Division football you don't get gifted any points so we learned the hard way in them games, but it was good to bounce back against Bohs."
Looking at the recent meetings between Waterford and Galway, the bragging rights are held almost exclusively in Galway hands. In six games, the Westerners have won four, Waterford have won one with one draw between the two sides. "They're a different style of football to us," says Power.
"They're more direct, but the thing is they are very good at what they do so we just have to counteract that and we've been working hard all week at training to do that. I'd say we owe them a few now at this stage. They've beaten us a few times over the last few years, but we're on a high with a good win last week so we're looking forward to it."
