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eircom National League First Division

Date	17/02/2002
Score (Blues First)	0 - 2
Venue	Finn Park, Ballybofey
Kick Off	3.30pm
Attendance	1,157 - 1,398 in Second Half
Weather	Mild
Referee	D Hanney
Goal Scorers	None
Cards	Yellow: Flanagan, Frost
Pitch	Very soft

After an excellent second half display against Limerick the Blues could travel to Finn Park full of confidence. This was a big test for our unsettled team, against one of the other promotion hopefuls. Would Jimmy bring back in Whittle and Frost who missed the match on Thursday night as they were both suspended. David Breen would miss this game too as he picked up a two match ban.

The big news from the Blues camp was that Brendan Rea was injured and so Whittle would now return to the centre of Defence beside Leahy. Podge Drew was left on the bench as Frost was reinstated at left full. Also David Walsh was to start in midfield with Flanagan. The manager had some big decisions to make but not everyone agreed with Drew being left out. The Blues who stayed in Boyle the previous night, were asleep for the first 15 minutes and it was no surprise when we went a goal down, after receiving 3 warnings from Harps corners. To be fair Harps could have been 2 or 3 up in the first few minutes. After 20 minutes we finally found our feet, we started to win tackles and get the ball back, but we just couldn't pass the ball 10 yards to another player. If this was a schoolboy game the manager would have hammered his players for not finding their own players feet, Maybe with Harps wearing Blue our lads were confused. Our first chance fell to Hunty who went clean through and with just the keeper to beat Noel took too long and the keeper saved his effort. Just before Half time Gary Dempsey struck a free kick from 22 yards out which hit the crossbar and then the post and no Waterford player was on hand to tap the ball home.

Crossbar and post that Dempsey's Free Kick hit in Finn Park	Leading Scorer - pic by G. O'Carroll

Myler was replaced at half time by Tony Smith and we returned to the pitch very upbeat. We took the game to Harps from the start and kept possession of the ball better, than in the first half. We played well around defence and midfield, but nothing was happening up front. The work by the forwards was just not paying off and runs by midfielders were being missed by the players on the ball. Our delivery of the ball around the opponents penalty area was very poor. Smith and Hunt created a couple of chances but Smith went to ground very easily when he got into the box, and Hunty just couldn't find the net. The ball did end up in the Harps net but the referee gave a free out for an incident I didn't see. McHugh scored again late in the game in Harps only attack as the Blues pushed on in search of the equaliser. A disappointed squad left the field after 90 minutes knowing that, promotion or even 2nd spot is starting to slip away from us.

Apart from not being able to pass the ball even 10 yards in Finn Park and team spirit looked a little low especially after the match (understandable really), all the players have to really dig in now and play the last 5 games as if their lives depended on it. 5 wins is a lot to ask but I think we have the players and with a little bit of luck we could push for second spot and be traveling to Longford for a playoff match.

Blues players locked in after match