"We know we can beat them!" Ruaidhri Higgins hoping for history in Finland tonight

Europa Conference League

Second Qualifying Round

KuPS (1) vs. Derry City (2)

Today, 5pm

Ruaidhri Higgins believes his team can finish the job in Finland tonight as Derry City aim to create history in Finland.

The Candystripes lead 2-1 heading into the second leg of their Europa Conference League Second Round Qualifier with KuPS, after a memorable comeback at the Brandywell last Thursday night.

Second half goals from Will Patching and Cian Kavanagh have given the Irish side a slight advantage heading into this evening’s game and that alone is enough for Higgins to believe his players can repeat the trick again.

“We’re delighted to be going over there in front,” he said. “It was the objective, and the first leg would have been great for our belief and our confidence. We know that we’re capable of beating them, whether that’s home or away, our mentality will be to go there and try and win the game.

“I feel we can cause them major issues. If they come and be really, really aggressive in their approach against us, the we can hurt them going the other way. It will be interesting but I definitely think we have the capabilities, and the profile of our players can really help us do damage over there as well.”

Despite the narrow lead, the tie remains very much in the balance, and Higgins acknowledges that his team may need to score to ensure progression.  

“Possibly,” he admitted. “We obviously have a really good defensive record, but we know we have players who can win matches in an instant. If we don’t have to score, great, if we do have to score, then we have the talent within the group to do that.

“Our defensive record is really, really good and we take pride in it and the players take pride in it. The structure of the team has been good and we defend from the front and everyone knows what’s expected of them so it’s a real team effort in that sense. If we are going to go and get a result, then we know that we’re going to have to be defensively very good as well.”

Last week, substitutions had a crucial impact on the game with both Paul McMullan and Cian Kavanagh impacting the game significantly. Kavanagh’s winning goal marked the ninth time that a Derry City substitute has scored this season, and Higgins insisted that every player can play an important role.

“We try and ram that home as much as possible,” he continued. “If you look at the All-Ireland final in gaelic, benches have won teams games, and we have got the quality here to introduce late in the game when the opposition tire and cause the opposition problems.

“That’s what we’ve been crying out for all season and we’re in a really good place now. There are no more excuses, we have a really good group of players now and they are all match fit which is brilliant. We want to go over there and be positive and try and pick up another memorable result.”

History

Only once in the club’s history have Derry City progressed beyond two rounds in Europe, and with a trip to either Switzerland or Kazakhstan awaiting the winner of this Second Qualifying Round tie, Higgins knows the significance of a win in Finland.

“It would be absolutely amazing,” he agreed. “They are a proper team, a really, really good team who are ranked 222 places above us. They have got real experience in Europe, but we know if we replicate our performance here in the Brandywell, we can go over there and get a special result.

“We’re going out there with a slender league to play an outstanding team. The way I look at it, there’s only 50% of the job done and we have to go and try and complete that. It’s brilliant that our supporters are optimistic and ambitious, and we’re the same, but there’s a lot of work to be done to ensure that happens.”