Waterford FC manager Alan Reynolds was a happy man when he spoke after the 4-0 drubbing of Finn Harps. “That is three clean sheets we have kept now in a row and that was something we spoke about before the season got underway and I think we are back on track now following what was a difficult start to the season for us.
“We still have a bit to do to be honest but I believe we are getting there. The first half hour was a scrappy affair because they came here to spoil the party and some of their tackles were robust to say the least. They are fighting for their lives and I think the referee got it right when he sent off one of their players. There was another incident also which went unpunished.
“When we scored the first goal I felt there was only going to be one winner and that is the way things turned out. I am delighted for Aaron Drinan. We have been telling him not to get involved in the build up from the middle of the park and to just stay up front and during the last two games he has been doing that and now he has four goals to show for his efforts. He is a great lad and he is now playing with a lot of confidence and that is great for him and of course for us because that is what we need right now.
"“We still have a bit to do to be honest but I believe we are getting there"
“Shane Duggan was excellent tonight. It was a tight call between him and Bastien Hery about who would start the game, I thought Shane was really good when he came on against St Patrick’s Athletic and the fact that Bastien had a slight injury I opted for Shane and he also took his goal brilliantly. I am delighted for Dean Walsh also. He has been training great and his goal ratio for his game time is immense. “We play away to UCD in the league next Friday. That will be a tough affair because they are a very good team. They ran Shamrock Rovers very close tonight. We have a lot of games coming up this month and I like it that way but not for very long however because it can take its toll but we will enjoy the next few weeks. Momentum is building nicely right now so we have a lot to look forward to.”
Shane Duggan turned in a ‘Man of the Match’ performance and summed up what unfolded. “I was happy with my performance but at the end of the day all that matters is that we picked up the three points. This was a game we had targeted some time ago. They kept their shape early on and they made it difficult for us and they battled well. We were sloppy at times and gave away some stupid balls but when Rory (Feely) sent up Aaron (Drinan) for the first goal we kicked on really well afterwards.
“It is a good result for us because we are moving up the table and that is good. I got my goal because Scott Twine played a great ball to be. To be honest I didn’t really connect with it properly but the main thing is that the ball stayed underneath the crossbar. We now play away next week and we have to beat teams like UCD if we want to keep moving up in the right direction. We have a load of games coming up and hopefully we will stay injury free. Going back to tonight’s game we had to be patient at times and everything worked out fine at the end.”