Squeaky bum time for United

THE relegation play-off worries for Galway United deepened on Tuesday night when they were hammered 4-0 away by Drogheda United, just four days after Ian Foster’s side put in an excellent performance to beat Derry City 3-1 in Terryland Park.United are safe from the sole relegation slot – only Drogheda United or, more likely, Bray Wanderers, will fall through the trap-door, but given the run-in of the other teams in the bottom half of the table, United are in serious danger of being dragged into the play-off spot.Foster has been saying all season that his side were in a relegation battle, even when United headed the table after four games of the season, and his words have proven prophetic as they are just three points ahead of eighth placed St Patrick’s Athletic in the table, and the Terryland Park side have an inferior goal difference and a more difficult run-in than the Dublin side.United supporters have endured the highest of highs and the lowest of lows this season, from beating St Pats four times and leading the league early in the season, to the 5-0 drubbing in Dalymount Park and now Tuesday night’s thrashing up in Drogheda.Their destiny is still in their own hands, but considering their next games are against title-chasing Bohemians (Terryland on Friday) and Shamrock Rovers (Tallaght on Friday week), with third placed Cork City the final game of the season, it doesn’t look good for United.They travelled to Drogheda full of positivity on Tuesday night, the cracking win over Derry City still fresh in their minds, but they were brought back down to earth with a bump. Foster naturally stuck with the same XI who started in Terryland on Friday night, but the outcome was very different as United struggled to create any kind of spark in the crucial relegation battle.The home side took the lead in the 39th minute when Brendan McGill fired home, and the floodgates opened in the second half as Drogheda threatened to match the five goal thrashing they handed United back in 1996, their best ever win in the battle of the Uniteds.Aaron Greene had a chance to equalise for United, while Alan Murphy and the hardworking Vinny Faherty also went close, but Drogheda wrapped up the points with goals from Paul Conroy in the 59th minute and an Ian Ryan strike four minutes later, and Paul Shiels out an undeserved gloss on the scoreline when scoring a fourth in injury time.