Sligo Rovers boss Darren Purse says his team will give everything they can in their efforts to take three points from Friday night’s crucial game with Waterford, in what is to date, the biggest night of the season for the Bit O’Red.
Match night sponsor for this game, moved to Friday at 8pm for coverage on Virgin Media TV is Sligo Junction, Collooney. Match ball sponsor is DPD Logistics, Sligo.
Purse’s Rovers host one of the country’s in-form sides at the Showgrounds, sitting six points off Graham Coughlan’s men who have taken 18 points from their last ten games.
Rovers currently sit six points adrift with nine games to go as Purse looks to plot a course for survival.
Form against the Blues this season has been reasonable, with Rovers collecting four points from a possible nine from the Munster outfit in 2026.
Honest in his assessment of the game to come, Purse is aware that Rovers likely require the full quota of points on Friday. He says his side will ‘know what to do’ in front of what should be a big Showgrounds crowd.
“My first game in charge against Drogheda was probably a ‘must not lose’ game, for me”, he tells sligorovers.com.
“This one is probably ‘must win’. At some point in the next few weeks, we need to pick up three points and then back-to-back three points.
“The gap has grown over the last few weeks because of the form of Waterford, which has been exceptional. It’s a game we have to go and try and get maximum points from. If you don’t, then you’re still well behind and it’s another game ticked off.
“But we know what we need to do. We’ve nine games left and our home games will be pivotal in terms of whether or not we stay in the division.”
The Londoner, barely a month in the top job, has refuted suggestions that Waterford would be happy to come away from Sligo with a draw which would maintain that six point gap between ourselves and Waterford.
He says a win, which would be Rovers’ first league victory since May, is very much the target.
“You’ve got to prepare for each game as if you’re looking to win it”, Purse continues.
“It won’t be any different to any other game so far in that we’ll put as much attention to details in as we can.
“Hopefully the hard work we will put in is rewarded with three points at the end. But the prep will be the exact same as what we’ve done in the past few games and that’s all geared to try and win.
“They’re coming to win the game, not to try and not get beat. Sometimes when you approach games thinking you’ll be alright with a draw, you tend not to perform. You look at the way Waterford have played recently, Graham’s done an exceptional job to turn things round. I know him and he won’t come looking for a draw.
“They won’t play for a point, they’ll come to win. And we need to be ready for it and match them with the quality we have.”
In team news, Jad Hakiki and Conor Reynolds are out. Daire Patton continues to recover from illness.
David Goulden