BY CONALL COLLIER
Sligo Rovers will welcome DLR Waves to the Showgrounds on Saturday for a Women’s Premier Division basement battle between the bottom two teams, kick-off 2pm.
Two weeks ago the Bit O’Red travelled to the Belfield Bowl for a FAI Cup quarter-final tie and knocked the Dublin side out of the competition with a 3-1 victory.
Goals from Anna McDaniel, Kelsey Munroe and Paula McGrory sealed the victory as Sligo Rovers stood strong against a serious second-half test from DLR Waves.
That type of performance will be required again on Saturday and Pauls McGrory will be eager to add to her goal tally as manager Tommy Hewitt returns to the sideline after serving a three-match suspension.
“i had to watch the last three games from the stand and I could see things that I wouldn’t normally see from the sideline, as a team, as a unit, we have improved, but the bottom line is we have to win this game to back up that claim,” stated the manager.
“There isn’t too much between the teams, but we need to get a win on Saturday, I can’t put it in any more simple terms.
“It’s not that the points are of any significance to either team, but the result will be significant on a number of fronts.
“As I said, we need to get a win and our supporters will be expecting us to win on the evidence from the victory a fortnight ago.
“It’s going to be a tough game for us and DLR Waves will want to make amends, but we have made tremendous strides since the start of the season and hopefully we can demonstrate that on Saturday,” he added.
Saturday’s encounter will be the first of three games in seven days and that will test the strength and depth of the squad with title-chasing Shelbourne due to visit the Showgrounds on Wednesday followed by a visit to Tallaght on Saturday, 14th September.
“It will be a hectic week, we will have Shelbourne next Wednesday and then we have to go to Tallaght Stadium on the Saturday, all that before the Cup semi-final against Athlone Town the following weekend,” stated the manager.
“When you look at that schedule, they are all big games and we have to try to win them all, but my focus, and the focus of the players will be solely on DLR Waves this weekend.
“We have a relatively small squad and we will be without Jodie Loughrey for Saturday due to injury, she missed the Galway game last weekend and she will be a big loss,
“We were excellent against Galway in the first half last Saturday, but we dropped off a bit in the second half, that’s something we need to address and the next opportunity will be against DLR Waves.
“The players are learning and gaining experience in every game and we will be ready for a battle against DLR Waves, if we can produce a consistent performance over the 90 minutes that will be crucial.
“I’m looking forward to Saturday, not just because I’ll be back on the sideline, but we will be going into the game knowing that we have a realistic chance of getting that first win.
“All I can say is that it was very frustrating for the last three games, having to watch from a distance and no involvement with the team beforehand, hopefully we’ll get the win to make it a good weekend,” he concluded.
The game will be live on LOITV and kick-off at the Showgrounds is 2pm.