Kildare County v Finn Park – Station Road, Saturday 21 st April 2007 – kick-off 7.45pm

Finn Harps will be hoping to put their worst start to a First Division season in over twenty years behind them when they make the trip to Newbridge to take on John Ryan's Kildare County at Station Road this Saturday. Harps will look to pick up their first win in five games, after losing two and drawing two of the last four league games. County currently sit two places above Harps on the First Division table, after picking up their first win and first clean sheet of the season at Athlone Town on Saturday. They followed that up with a scoreless draw against UCD on Monday night in the League Cup, before losing out on penalties.

Harps Manager, Paul Hegarty, will have to plan without the services of goalkeeper, Gavin Cullen, who must sit out the match as he serves an automatic one-game suspension after picking up a red-card in the 2-1 defeat by Wexford Youths last weekend. That game was Cullen's first appearance in a league game for Harps in twelve months and it's one the big Buncrana netminder will want to forget in a hurry. Whether or not Cullen will be the only casualty of the side from last weekend remains to be seen, but certainly there are a number of players who must feel that their performances last weekend makes them a contender to miss out this weekend.

Hegarty was making no excuses about the performance of his side against Wexford last Saturday. "It just wasn't good enough", said the Harps boss. "We created the best chances in the match but that's not good enough. The players know themselves that it wasn't good enough."

Having scored twice in each of their opening two games of the season, Harps have scored a total of just two goals in their last four games and this is something that hasn't gone unnoticed to Hegarty. "We're making enough chances, but we're not scoring enough and that's a problem at the minute."

Cullen aside, Hegarty will have a full-squad to choose from with Michael Funston likely to be available after missing the previous two games with a foot injury. Having been relegated to the substitutes bench last week, James Gallagher will start the game against Kildare between the posts in place of the suspended Cullen. The back four is unlikely to be changed, although Shaun Holmes could start at left-back with Jonathan Minnock pushing up to the left-midfield role. Conor Gethis, Tony Shields and John O'Loughlin all look certain to retain their places in the starting line-up while Funston, Chris Breen and Seamus Brown are all pushing for a place in the starting eleven.

In the two games between Harps and County last season in Newbridge, Harps emerged victorious on each occasion. An opening day 5-2 victory at Station Road saw striker Conor Gethins hit four goals while in their second visit of the season to Kildare last July, Harps again claimed all three points in a 3-1 win which saw Jonathan Minnock celebrate becoming the record-appearances holder for the club by scoring the opening goal.

Harps have only lost once in fourteen previous appearances against Kildare and have never lost against County in Newbridge, winning five and drawing two of the seven games at Station Road. Indeed, Kildare have only managed to score four goals against Harps in their own backyard – three of these coming in the two games last season.

Form guide this season:

Finn Harps: L-D-D-L-W-L (5pts). Kildare County: W-D-L-L-D-D (6pts).

Saturday's game kick-offs at 7.45pm.