League Preview: Galway United -v- Bohemians

Galway United welcome Bohemians to Eamonn Deacy Park on Friday night in a League of Ireland Premier Division mid-table crunch clash. Only one point separates Bohemians in 7^th and Galway in 8^th position and with both sides gunning to finish as high up the table as possible, it adds an extra bit of edge to this particular fixture.

GALWAY UNITED

Galway are certainly in need of a pickup as their form over the last month and a half has been a little bit drab. There last win came at the beginning of August when they defeated champions Dundalk by a goal to nil in what was a stunning performance from the Tribesmen. However, since that night they have failed to secure victory in five attempts with losses to St Patrick’s Athletic, Bray Wanderers, Sligo Rovers and Shamrock Rovers and a stalemate draw away to Derry City.

This unsought streak has seen Tommy Dunne’s side slip down into the bottom-half of the table but perhaps most worryingly, they have only managed one goal in those five games which is stark in contrast to their early season form which saw Vinny Faherty shoot up the top-scorers list.

Nevertheless, United have a fantastic opportunity to pick up a big win tonight which would see them overtake Bohemians and possibly move as high as sixth if other results fall their way as the focus will now be to finish as far up the table as possible.

Dunne has targeted tonight’s clash as must-win as his side look to get back to winning ways.

“It’s an important game considering the league standings,” Dunne explained to www.galwayunitedfc.ie.

“It’s always a difficult game against Bohemians, that’s to be expected. It’s a big game for us.

“We’ve certainly been there or thereabouts in recent games, we just need to eradicate a few silly errors and we need to start scoring goals again. It’s putting us under pressure because we’re not taking our chances.

“We need to go again and continue to improve on our home form. There isn’t a huge amount of league games left, so we’ve got to try and pick up as many points as we can.

“We’re trying to better ourselves, if we can go on a run, it could give us an opportunity to get in the top six and I think that would be a good improvement on last season.

“We’ve been on the wrong side of results lately, it’s time for us to get back on the right side.”

In team news, José Garcia is the only absentee meaning Dunne has mostly a full squad at his disposal for the game.

BOHEMIANS

Since the turn of the season, Bohemians have enjoyed a number of positive results which has seen them steadily climb up the table.

Before last week’s narrow 2-1 loss to Dundalk, Keith Long’s side had won three of their last five games in all competitions including an impressive nil-all draw against Cork City at Turners Cross.

With just a point separating the sides, Long, speaking to bohemianfc.com, spoke of the importance that his side pick up some sort of result.

“They’re once place below us in the league, so we have to go down there and get a result.

“There hasn’t been a lot between the sides this season. Between the league and cup, we’ve won one, lost one and drawn one.

“At home, we’ve had the upper hand against them this season and last. But we want to redress our record away from home.

“We lost our last game out there 1-0. But it was a scrappy game ruined by the conditions.

“It’s a great surface out there now, so it’s a good place for us to go and show what we can do. If we play like we did against St Pat’s in our last away game, we can get a result.”

Reflecting on last week’s loss to Dundalk, Long was happy with his players’ reaction in the second-half.

Long said: “We played well in the second half. But that was after we went 2-0 down and obviously you have to ask why we got ourselves in that position in the first place.

“The plan was to take the game to them from the start. Perhaps we were guilty of giving them a little bit too much respect early on.

“We didn’t get enough pressure on the ball in the first half. We changed things around in the second half and started it much better.

“We were perhaps a little naive in not contesting the drop ball that led to Dundalk’s second goal.

“But we showed great character to get back into it. We brought on a second striker in Jake Kelly and went 4-4-2 to give Kurtis Byrne a bit more support.

“That gave us a bit more threat and momentum up front. We brought the game to them and got back into it with a great goal from Kurtis.

“The players and supporters responded to that – the atmosphere was great from both sets of fans. We attacked in droves and were very unlucky not to get the equaliser.”

In team news, Ismahil Akinade is ruled out through illness while Derek Prendergast and Lorcan Fitzgerald miss out due to suspension.

Referee: Ronan Harvey (Dublin)

MATCH STATS

These sides have met three times this season in all-competitions and the record is evenly split with both sides having drawn once and having a win each.

Bohemians have failed to win at Eamonn Deacy Park since 2011.

Head-to-head, Bohemians hold 15 wins over Galway’s 7 with 3 draws between the sides in the league.

BETTING

Galway United 7/5; Draw 21/10; Bohemians 15/8.

PREDICTION

Galway United 1-1 Bohemians

Galway United

Injured: Jose Garcia

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: None.

Bohemians

Injured: Ismahil Akinade

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: Lorcan Fitzgerald, Derek Prendergast