By Conall Collier

Sligo Rovers will travel to the Carlisle Grounds in Bray on Saturday for a Women’s Premier Division (WPD) basement battle showdown against DLR Waves on the new FIFA Quality-Approved  artificial grass pitch at the home of Bray Wanderers.

The new pitch had its first outing in the League of Ireland when Bray hosted Dundalk in mid-March after playing the first three games away and Saturday’s encounter will be the first WPD game at the venue as DLR Waves move from the Belfield Bowl for this encounter.

This a huge game for both teams with DLR Waves anchored at the foot of the table with one draw from nine outings, four points adrift of the Bit O’Red, one victory and two draws.

An encouraging aspect for both managers, Steve Feeney and Laura Heffernan of DLR Waves, has been a gradual improvement in respective performances over the past month or so with DLR picking up a point last time out in the WPD with a 1-1 draw against Cork City.

However, DLR will go into this game on the back of two home defeats in the All-Island Cup against Wexford and Lisburn.

This game will also be a dress-rehearsal for the first round of the FAI Cup a fortnight later at the Showgrounds, but that will be of secondary importance on Saturday.

Last season the Bit O’Red defeated DLR Waves by 3-1 in the FAI Cup with goals from Anna McDaniel, Kelsey Munroe and Paula McGrory, but the Dublin women won both WPD encounters.

For the Bit O’Red, the outcome will most definitely be influenced by player-availability with manager Steve Feeney still without Kate Nugent, Amber Hardy, Jessica Casey and Rachel McGoldrick who are all on the injured list while Paula McGrory feature.

The return to action last week of Katie Melly for the final 15 minutes in the All-Island Cup was a boost and if she is fit to start on Saturday it will certainly bolster the prospects at the Bray venue.

Neither side is too proficient on the scoring front. DLR Waves have hit the target nine times in all competitions, but have conceded 41 goals while the Bit O’Red have scored five goals and conceded 28, but in 12 outings have also kept three cleansheets.

Battling qualities have been evident on a weekly basis from the Bit O’Red and that was demonstrated last weekend where a five-goal deficit against Shelbourne wasn’t a fair reflection on the overall performance, but an inability to convert some gilt-edged chances was a major issue.

There won’t be much to separate the teams on Saturday in what will be a hugely competitive encounter and the team that makes the least amount of mistakes is likely to emerge with a victory.