Having claimed four SSE Aitricity League first division wins in five matches, Galway United face another key encounter against fellow promotion contenders Drogheda United at Eamonn Deacy Park tomorrow evening (7.45pm ).
Both sides are level on 24 points after Kevin Doherty's Drogheda sealed a 2-0 win over Wexford, while Galway produced a 2-1 triumph at Stradbrook. It was an important result for United, with Robbie Williams and Marc Ludden grabbing goals, and while manager Shane Keegan said it was not United’s most effective display, his team still secured the full complement of spoils.
“I'm scratching my head wondering when did this type of win happen since I took over,” Keegan says. “It seems to have always been the other way around - the only argument you could make was the night we got the late winner against Dundalk. Apart from that it seems to forever be a tale of the other way around where people are praising our performance, but we haven't won.
“There is no point in me spinning, saying we deserved the points, we didn't. We were absolutely blessed. We probably only had two chances in the entire game, we scored the two chances. They had a good six or seven chances, and a combination of last-ditch defending and great goalkeeping made sure we held out for as long as we did.
Keegan says there was a "bad feel" to the atmosphere.
"There was a bit of a strange feeling around the game with the pitch and it being a Sunday. There was nobody really in the ground, very, very few. We nearly outnumbered them with a bus load.
"There was just a bad feel to the whole game, it shouldn't have bothered us, but it did. I think everybody's motto was three points and let us get the hell out of here.”
Home form a factor
Next on the agenda for the Tribesmen is a tussle against Drogheda, who have enjoyed a decent start to the campaign under Tim Clancy. It could be a significant evening in the league, according to Keegan.
“Obviously our home form has been superb. We will hope to make that a factor on Friday. If you look at the fixture list this week, we are the only team in the top six that is at home. Drogheda are away to us and the other four teams are away to the teams in the bottom four. So it is a night when a couple of teams could get caught out.
"As we saw in Cabinteely, UCD won't have it all their own way. Shels away to Cobh and even Finn Harps away to Wexford. It is a night, if we delivered a big performance to get the three points, the league table could potentially look very, very nice.
Keegan says United have yet to drop a point against anyone in the last four positions.
“That shows a huge amount of efficiency, there is a perception you just have to turn up for those games. It is an awful lot tougher than that. The main thing, though, is looking after our own performance.”
