Pete Mahon says Drogheda United could learn a lesson from Finn Harps ahead of tonight’s game at Finn Park.
Harps, who are depleted with a raft of injuries, are two points better off than the newly-promoted Drogs after nine rounds of games.
Drogheda lost six in-a-row before beating Shamrock Rovers 2-1 two weeks ago.
However, a 3-0 loss to Limerick last weekend highlighted their difficulties again.
Both sides will be targeting tonight’s fixture as key to their survival battle.
And Mahon, who guided Drogheda back into the top flight last year, says his men should look to what Harps have done.
“I think Harps have that knack of picking up results even when they haven’t played particularly well and it’s something we can learn from,” Mahon said.
[adrotate group=”46″]“They’re doing really well so far and they’re a physical team to play against.
“It’s not an easy place to get to and it’s not ideal with the players needing to get time off work.
“I’ve said it before but there are no easy games in this division and we’ll be looking for a huge improvement in our performance.”
Mahon delivered a stinging assessment of last week’s defeat to Limerick.
“We were absolutely dreadful,” the Drogheda manager said.
“It was by far our worst performance of the season. We weren’t there mentally which you could see from the awful start we made.
“I think Limerick took it easy on us after scoring the third goal as it could’ve been much worse. We’ve dusted ourselves off and are preparing well now for Friday’s game.
“The players know that any kind of a repeat performance like that will be completely unacceptable.
“We only have nine points at the moment and that’s not enough. We set ourselves the target of around 13 points from the first round of games so there’s obviously a lot of work to do in the remaining two games.
“Our next four games are huge for us and could really shape our season. We need to get into the habit of picking up points and that’ll give us momentum to hopefully kick on in the second round of games.”
Drogheda will be without Thomas Byrne and Eoghan Dempsey who are away on international duty with Ireland. Sean Brennan is unavailable through suspension while Lloyd Buckley and Killian Brennan miss out due to injury.
However, Gavin Brennan and Marc Griffin will be available for selection having overcome knocks.
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