Ruaidhri Higgins hoping Derry City can develop killer instinct against Dundalk

Derry City vs. Dundalk

Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium

Tonight, 7:45pm

Ruaidhri Higgins is hoping his players develop a killer instinct soon, especially given the importance of tonight’s game against Dundalk at the Brandywell.

The Derry City manager has led his team to successive 1-0 away wins at Drogheda and Bohemians in the past 10 days, but on both occasions his team have had to hang on amidst serious pressure from their opponents in the closing stages of the games.

Friday’s game at Dalymount Park should arguably have been won long before the final whistle with Bohemians playing with 10 men from the 14th minute following the dismissal of Grant Horton. In the end, Ryan Graydon’s goal proved to be enough to take Derry City up into second place in the Premier Division, but the manager was not completely satisfied.

“It's a habit we need to get out of,” he said. “We had them pinned in in the first half and we should have smelt blood and went for the jugular and made the second half more comfortable for ourselves.

“In the first half we were absolutely brilliant, even when it was eleven vs. eleven. We started the game really, really well and dominated the ball. We played some really good stuff and to be honest made life hard for ourselves.”

It is not the first time this season that City have struggled against ten men, and for Higgins it was the only negative of an otherwise excellent result.  

“We should have been coming in with a bigger lead at half time,” he continued. “When we smelt blood in the first half we should have gone for the second and the third goal. We didn’t and then ultimately the home team and the crowd got up and they got a wee bit of hope, but we managed to see it out.”

While the return of Cameron Dummigan was a huge boost, the return of Will Patching to City’s midfield was particularly pleasing for the manager.

“Will Patching was outstanding in the first half in particular and really looked like himself,” he stated. “He has been carrying an injury for a couple of months and continued to play through it, but we have managed to get the problem sorted during the period he missed recently. He’s now pain free and I’m sure he will kick on.”

One interesting aspect of City’s victory at Bohs was the absence of a recognised striker, with Jamie McGonigle and Cian Kavanagh both unused substitutes. Higgins explained it was simply tactical.

“Ollie (O’Neill) came in and played deep and overloaded them in midfield and in the first half it worked absolutely perfectly,” he explained. “We worked on it all week and in the first half I thought there was some outstanding football.

“Basically, what it allowed us to do was to control the game. We wanted to come here and not match up and not turn it into a physical contest. We wanted to come here and try and dominate the ball and we did that for the whole first half and parts of the second half so thank God it worked.”

Dundalk challenge

Ruaidhri Higgins is yet to beat Stephen O’Donnell since his former team mate took over as Dundalk manager, but that fact is not a concern to the City boss head of tonight’s game.

“It’s a big game,” he said. “We’re going to have to be right at it on Monday to win the game and hopefully we can pick up a massive three points. It’s not about me and Stephen O’Donnell, it’s about Derry City and Dundalk.

“I don’t think we have hit our full heights yet. We haven’t really put a 90-minute performance together and we need to do what we did in the first 45 at Bohs. We introduced Cameron Dummigan back into the team which was a huge boost. Mark Connolly isn’t too far away and Patrick McEleney isn’t miles away either. I said about a month ago, if we can keep digging in and hanging in there, we’re well et up to go on a really good run, and hopefully, mount a decent challenge.”

League Table

                                       P             W            D             L              GF           GA          GD          PTS

1 Shamrock Rovers           15           8             6             1             31           13           18           30

2 DERRY CITY                    15           8             4             3             20           10           10           28

3 Bohemians                     15           9             1             5             23           14           9             28

4 Dundalk                           15           7             4             4             22           17           5             25