Galway United host Waterford FC in crunch Premier Division battle
Tribesmen looking to end their Pearse Stadium residency with 100% winning record
Galway United bring their temporary residency at Pearse Stadium to an end tomorrow when they welcome Waterford FC to the Salthill venue (5pm), and they will hope to sign-off with a 100% record, having won their three previous games at the home of Galway GAA.
League wins over Derry City and Sligo Rovers, as well as last weekend's FAI Cup win over Crumlin United, should see United in a positive frame of mind for a crunch game against a side that looked doomed to the drop just two months ago.
Having failed to win any of their opening 13 games in the league, and with the Blues cut adrift at the foot of the League of Ireland Premier Division table on just four points third of the way into the season, they sacked Jon Daly and brought in Graham Coughlin.
He immediately brought some stability as Waterford drew two of their first three games, before finally getting a first win. They have picked up 16 points from 12 games under Coughlin to move off the foot of the table, and United manager, John Caulfield, is wary of a side that is bang in form.
"Waterford is going to be a massive game because we know they've been they've turned things around.
Graham has got them going really well. They are really aggressive and really strong at set-pieces, long throws, they put you under a lot of pressure, and it will be a massive match," he says.
He used last weekend's cup game to rotate his squad, with one player being granted personal time off, some others were rested for the sake of a rest, while others were carrying slight knocks.
Frantz Pierrot returned to the squad this week, having been given time off after his girlfriend gave birth last week; while Wasiri Williams and Gianfranco Facchineri are also back in the reckoning having been rested last weekend.
Ed McCarthy and David Hurley were carrying minor knocks, which was why they sat out last weekend's win, but he is hopeful both will be available tomorrow. Not so good was the news about Axel Piesold, who was transferred to hospital, having being on the end of a crunching tackle from Jamie Whelan midway through the first-half.
"It looks a bit tricky, it looked serious. He's gone to hospital, so we'll have to weigh-up what the situation is," he said.