Match Preview: Shelbourne v Longford Town

BY ANDREW DEMPSEY

Longford Town make their second trip to the capital this season when they face top of the table Shelbourne at Tolka Park on Friday evening. (Kick-off is at 7.45pm)

Town boss Neale Fenn will be hoping that his side can kick on from their convincing derby day win over Athlone Town with a big result against Ian Morris’ side.

The Red and Black also come into the game having won the previous two games against the Reds by two goals in each in both the FAI Cup and First Division.

In the most recent showdown against Shels, Peter Hopkins and Karl Chambers both scored in what was a dominant victory for De Town.

However, Longford Town have not won a league game at Tolka Park since 2009, a memorable 5-4 win over Shelbourne which handed UCD the 2009 First Division crown.

Speaking to LTFC.ie, Town midfielder Jamie Hollywood admits that he is looking for revenge after Longford Town’s most recent defeat at the Dublin venue.

“The crowd from Longford is always great down in Tolka. The Shels fans are coming out in numbers again so it does create a nice atmosphere.

“You want to be playing in games like that. I’ve mentioned it already; the 6-1 defeat still is a bit sore from last year with a lot of us.

“The game got away from us because we felt we were well on top in the first half and then the sending off killed us. We were three-one down and we went for it, going close to make it three-two and then just like that it was 4-1 and the floodgates then opened.

“It wasn’t a 6-1 game, and I think that hurt us a bit because we really were on top and we probably felt like we should’ve won the game and I know it’s hard to believe when you lose 6-1 but we never stopped going forward.

“We probably could’ve sat in at 3-1 but that’s not like us. a few teams might want to do that, but we wouldn’t be like that.

“The game is going to be high-tempo with both teams looking for a really big result.”

In terms of team news, Sam Verdon is Neale Fenn’s only doubt for the trip to the Richmond Road venue.