How quickly things can change in football

It is fairly safe to say that this season hasn’t gone as well as we would have hoped it was going to go for us at Waterford.

With just three games remaining we are in the middle of a battle to avoid the relegation play-offs, and every point is crucial for us.

There has been two changes of manager for the club this season and in both cases, it was really tough on the managers involved as us players have let them down.

It was disappointing to see John Coleman and Danny Ventre leave the club. they were people who I had a long history with and got on brilliantly with, and I know given time they would have done very good things for the club, but football can change very quickly and unfortunately for me and them that is what happened.

We head into this week’s game at home to Derry City off the back of an international break where we were able to get two weeks good training into us and implement our Interim manager Matt Lawlor’s style of play more.

When you head into the international break it makes such a difference when it is off the back of a win. We had lost six games in a row heading into our last game at home to European chasing Drogheda United and we were able to turn the tide and get a great 2-0 victory which lifted us from the relegation play-off zone.

The performance in the Drogheda game was probably not much different from the three previous games that we played and lost 2-1 to Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians and Shelbourne but this time we got all three points.

It is amazing how many times that happens and the rub of the green goes against you but in the Drogheda game it felt like the bad run of luck changed and hopefully that continues going forward for the last three games.

This Friday we face a side who are not only chasing Europe but are also trying to keep their feint hopes of a League title alive. It is a long shot, but they need to win their last three games and still hope a lot goes their way, but we have to try and end their hopes by getting something from the game.

Derry have some excellent players in their side most notably Michael Duffy who is their talisman and one of the best players in the league. We know that to get anything from the game Friday we have to start the game well and try keep the pressure on them throughout.

We know only too well just how good they can be as in our last game against them up in Derry we were on the wrong end of a thrashing when everything that they tried seemed to work as they beat us 7-2 in the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.

That was a low point in our season, and we have to use that as a bit of motivation for ourselves Friday but also as a reminder that if we don’t show up in the game just how embarrassed we could be.

We have two home games remaining in the last three games. At home to Derry City followed by a trip to Richmond Park to play St Patrick’s Athletic and then perhaps (hopefully not) a winner takes all showdown in the RSC on the final day of the season as we welcome Galway United who are three points behind us in the league although they have a game in hand on us before we play.

As I said in the beginning, this season has not been exactly how we planned it to go, and it has been a very disappointing one for us. We still need to make sure the club is a Premier Division club next season and do whatever it takes for that to happen.

The supporters have been excellent for us throughout the season, and they deserve us to be in the Premier Division next year. Through thick and thin they have backed us, even sometimes when we maybe didn’t deserve their backing, but we have to make sure of staying in the division for them and then take stock at the end of the season and see where we are for next year.