eircom National League First Division

Date	26/10/2002
Score (Blues First)	0 - 0
Venue	RSC, Waterford
Kick Off	5.30 pm
Attendance	980
Weather	Force 10 gale
Referee	D. Deady
Goal Scorers	none
Cards	Yellow: Frost, Di Lella
Pitch	soft but good considering conditions

After 3 draws in a row against Galway, Kildare and Monaghan, the Blues had a chance to show that they were serious championship contenders against Finn Harps in the RSC. This game was taking place on Saturday afternoon because Finn Harps refused to travel on a Thursday night.

The proposed 5.30pm kick off was delayed by 15 minutes as Finn Harps only arrived in Waterford at 5.15pm, this along with the news that Brendan Rea was dropped and David Breen had a back injury meant a changed back four, and with Cosgrove and Waters back in the team after both been left out last week the team had 5 changes from the starting line up 6 days earlier in Monaghan.

With Harps only having 10 minutes warming up we should have attacked them from the start, but with all the changes again and the bad conditions the Blues took a while to settle and never put the ball in the opponents penalty area. With 3 changes in the back four, we found the going tough, but why we kept kicking the ball 80 yards up the pitch to the Harps defenders was beyond me. The night and conditions called for some quick short passing and plenty of movement around the pitch, but we got none of this. Harps worked their way into the game and produced the better football later in the half.

The second half started with a golden opportunity for Vinny as he worked his was into the box but hit the side netting when he should have scored. This was to be our final shot at the Harps goal. The substitution of Darryl Murphy for Vinny was incredible as Alex was having a stinker on the pitch and looked at times like he was wearing slippers not football boots. Even if Vinny was injured he was doing 4 times as much as Dixon. It again took a few great saves from Russell to give us a share of the spoils. In the weather conditions that we now face we have to take a look at local players in our under 21 team who are used to playing in the wind and rain.

On Friday night we face Dundalk and after 4 draws we now need to get back to winning ways. 1 goal in 3 games is not championship material. Lets make next Friday night a late Halloween party for the Lilywhites.