Finn Harps Manager Peter Hutton knows his side has to get back to winning away again if they are to get themselves back into the promotion race.
Friday’s game against Wexford Youths at Finn Park (kick-off 8.00pm) gives his side the ideal opportunity to do this – against a side who have lost all of their last four games.
Harps, of course, don’t exactly go into the game in a rich view of form themselves. They can only point to two points returned from the last seven league games and last week fell to their heaviest defeat of the season when losing 4-0 against Mervue United at Fahy’s Field.
“I was disappointed to say the least with the outcome of the game in Mervue,” said Hutton. “We were a bit buoyed after the performance the previous week against Longford but unfortunately we didn’t do anything to the same level against Mervue – the performance was very lacklustre.”
While Hutton agrees that Mervue were well worth their four goal victory, he said that his own side helped them in that regard.
“Mervue certainly deserved their win but I haven’t seen us play as badly in a long, long time and that contributed to their victory. We were very lacklustre, particularly in the first half and we played like we were strangers and hadn’t played together before.”
Despite all the doom and gloom that goes with a winless run like Harps are on at present, Hutton feels that a victory against Wexford on Friday night could be the catalyst to kick-start the season again for his troops.
“Although people look at the league table and see us seven or eight points behind the play-off spots, there is still everything left to play for. There are a lot of games still to go this season and plenty of points to be won. At one stage we were 12 points behind Longford in top spot but a run of good results seen us move up to second and get to within touching distance of them.”
“It’s imperative that we go on another run now and given the fact that it’s such a small league in terms of the number of teams and clubs are playing each other very frequently, things can change again very quickly. If we could manage to get a couple of wins under our belt, it will certainly push us back up the table again very quickly.”
Harps will look to get that first vital victory on Friday evening against Wexford Youths. In the previous two league games between the sides this season, Wexford hold the upper hand with a home win and a draw at Finn Park in the opening weeks of the season. However, Harps did defeat the Youths in the FAI Cup by the odd goal in three at the end of May.
“Of late the performances have been very patchy and inconsistent,” continues Hutton. “We got a decent performance two weeks ago against Longford but it was the complete opposite in Meruve and that was very disappointing and we just weren’t at the races.
“If we are realistic about trying to get one of the play-off spots, it is imperative that we string a few wins together and we have got to the stage now where pretty much games are a must-win – starting this evening against Wexford Youths.”
TEAM NEWS
Suspended: None
Doubtful: None
Injured: Damien McNulty (foot), Thomas McMonagle (foot)
Form Guide (last six league games)
Finn Harps: L-L-L-D-D-L (2 pts)
Mervue United: L-W-L-L-L-L (3 pts)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last six home games against Wexford Youths
24-Sep-10 – Finn Harps 1-1 Wexford Youths (First Division)
06-May-11 – Finn Harps 0-1 Wexford Youths (First Division)
22-Oct-11 – Finn Harps 4-1 Wexford Youths (First Division)
24-Mar-12 – Finn Harps 0-1 Wexford Youths (First Division)
21-Jul-12 – Finn Harps 3-3 Wexford Youths (First Division)
05-Apr-13 – Finn Harps 0-0 Wexford Youths (First Division)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finn Harps Goalscorers 2013
Sean McCarron – 8 (1 in FAI Cup)
Kevin McHugh – 6
Michael Funston – 3
Keith Cowan – 3 (1 in FAI Cup)
Thomas McMonagle – 2
Thomas McBride – 1 (in League Cup)
Matt Harkin – 1 (in League Cup)
James Doherty – 1 (in League Cup)
Marc Brolly – 1 (in League Cup)
Aaron O’Hagan – 1 (in League Cup)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finn Harps Results 2013 (Harps goalscorers in brackets)
19-Jul-2013 – AL – Mervue United 4-0 Finn Harps
12-Jul-2013 – AL – Finn Harps 0-0 Longford Town
28-Jun-2013 – AL – Finn Harps 2-2 Cobh Ramblers (Funston, Cowan)
28-Jun-2013 – AL – Waterford United 3-0 Finn Harps
14-Jun-2013 – AL – Salthill Devon 2-1 Finn Harps (Funston)
08-Jun-2013 – AL – Finn Harps 2-3 Athlone Town (Funston, Cowan)
31-May-2013 – FAI – Finn Harps 2-1 Wexford Youths (Cowan, McCarron)
24-May-2013 – AL – Wexford Youths 2-1 Finn Harps (McCarron)
20-May-2013 – LC – Finn Harps 1-1 Derry City (O’Hagan) – Derry win 6-5 on penalties
17-May-2013 – AL – Finn Harps 1-0 Mervue United (McCarron)
11-May-2013 – AL – Longford Town 2-3 Finn Harps (McCarron, McHugh, McDonagh og.)
04-May-2013 – AL – Cobh Ramblers 2-2 Finn Harps (McHugh, McCarron)
26-Apr-2013 – AL – Finn Harps 0-1 Waterford United
19-Apr-2013 – AL – Finn Harps 1-0 Salthill Devon (McMonagle)
12-Apr-2013 – AL – Athlone Town 1-0 Finn Harps
05-Apr-2013 – AL – Finn Harps 0-0 Wexford Youths
29-Mar-2013 – AL – Mervue United 2-2 Finn Harps (McMonagle, McHugh)
23-Mar-2013 – AL – Finn Harps 1-0 Longford Town (McHugh)
15-Mar-2013 – AL – Finn Harps 4-1 Cobh Ramblers (McCarron 2, McHugh 2)
08-Mar-2013 – AL – Waterford United 1-1 Finn Harps (McCarron)
03-Mar-2013 – LC – Mayo League 1-4 Finn Harps (Harkin, Doherty, Brolly, McBride)
Tags:
