SEAN HOUSTON RETURNS to his old stomping ground at the Carlisle Grounds tomorrow evening with Finn Harps.
The now 26-year-old spent two years at Bray Wanderers from 2010 to 2012, playing 54 times between left-back and central midfield.
[adrotate group=”50″]Having rejoined Harps for a second spell in the close season after three seasons in Derry, Houston would’ve been aware the newly-promoted Ballybofey outfit’s priority in the top flight would’ve been survival.
But with 23 points already amassed – some 15 better than bottom club Longford Town – believes a continuation of that good form can mean a change in perspective.
“Bray always stay up,” Houston said of his former employers. “They always make a push and they’re going well at the minute.
“If we can win that game we would be out of it at the bottom and looking upwards instead of downwards. That’s the plan but we’ll take every game as it comes and we’ll take the result – whatever it is – and try and build on it for the next time.
“If you can win those ‘six-pointers’ against the sides around you, then you can’t go down really. They’re hugely important. But even the likes of Shamrock Rovers and Derry, we’re picking up points here and there.
Houston, with four goals from midfield since May, has played a vital part in the resurgence of the Ballybofey side in recent weeks, with last Friday’s winning goal against Galway United helping Ollie Horgan’s side to their 10th point from 12 in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.
“It’s a great win,” he added. “It gets us level with Galway and gets us up the table a bit.
“We were saying at half-time not to let the game just peter out. They could knick a goal and get away with a 1-0 win and that’s what we were worried about. It turned out that we actually did that.
[adrotate group=”76″]“It wasn’t our best game as a team, but we got the win and that’s all that matters.” That’s points in the last four games and we have picked up things a fair bit since we lost to Crumlin.
“That was a really rough patch of games – you had Dundalk and Pat’s and we got beat fairly convincingly in those games. But thankfully we have managed to turn the corner.
Last week’s win means that Harps have picked up some 16 points at Finn Park this season – a statistic that confirms their home record is the fourth best in the league. So barring the 7-0 hammering at Dundalk’s hands in May, there’s been a competitive edge and teams have found the trip to the Twin Towns an awkward one.
“We’ve done well at home and were unlucky against Shamrock Rovers and St Pat’s so our home form has been very good,” Houston added. “It’s great with the crowd here behind us and it’s a hard place to come by.
“Are we looking up or down now? I’m not sure yet – maybe a bit of both – but we should know more after the next couple of games. We have a huge game next week against Bray. That’s a massive game and we’ll be looking to get three points from that game as well.
“Things are going well and the team are playing really well at the moment. It’s easy to play in a team that’s playing well and has good players.”
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