'It's one step forward and two steps back for Patrick'

Patrick McEleney could be set for another spell on the sidelines after leaving the pitch at Inchicore in tears last night.

The Derry City captain, who only recently returned from injury after nine games out, was unable to continue and had to be substituted after 53 minutes of last night’s defeat to St. Patrick’s Athletic.

McEleney was clearly upset as he left the field and manager Ruaidhri Higgins admitted that his captain’s injury is an ongoing issue.

“He has an ongoing Achilles problem that we’ve been working away at to try and get fixed,” he explained. “He felt okay coming into the game, but there’s an issue there that we need to get right because it’s one step forward, two steps back for him.

“He’s so committed to the club and he’s so committed to wanting to bring success to the club and it hurts him and it should hurt everybody. But him in particular; he was a season ticket holder with Derry as a kid, he went home and away to a lot of matches, and this club means the world to him and it’s probably just devastation that he can’t contribute to the team.”

The 4-1 defeat was the biggest of Higgins’ time in charge, and the manager didn’t shy away from that fact after the game.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s the most gut-wrenching night since I’ve taken over anyway, that’s for sure,” he said.

“Up until 1-0 there wasn’t much in the game and we were fine, but from that moment on we lost our composure, we lost or discipline, and that’s unacceptable. Over the last number of years, we’ve had a good defensive record but we looked fragile, very, very fragile and we need to eradicate all those errors and make sure we become harder to beat than we were because it’s well, well, well below par and unacceptable.”

Derry City have now lost five games, which is just one less than the total they lost in the entirety of last season.

“It’s a different season and more teams are dropping points, but five defeats is not good enough and I won’t stand here and tell you any different,” Higgins continued.

“I take full responsibility. I’m in charge of the team and a s a group we all take responsibility. We had travelling fans coming down here in good numbers on a Monday. They had probably taken the day off work to come down here and we have done them a disservice, and we apologise to them. I’m gutted for them that they had to come down and witness that type of performance.”