Home record the key to Derry success!

The biggest threat to Derry City’s title challenge this season may not be Shamrock Rovers or St. Patrick’s Athletic, but their very own home record.

In each of the past two seasons, Derry City have failed to win less than half of their league games at the Brandywell with fans going home disappointed on countless occasions. Be it missed chances, poor refereeing decisions or just poor performances, the Brandywell has not been a fortress in quite some time.

Last year, Derry won just 50% of their 18 home league games, dropping an INCREDIBLE 21 points at home. They finished seven points behind Shamrock Rovers.

In 2022, Derry won just eight of 18 league games at the Brandywell, dropping 23 points at home and losing out to Rovers by a massive 13 points.

In total, Derry City have won just 17 of their last 36 league games at home in the past two seasons, dropping an unbelievable 44 points at home.

There can be no problem bigger to overcome in the search for the league title.

“Not everybody, but a lot of teams come here now and sit in and try and frustrate us, and to a large extent, it has worked, but there has to be different ways to win matches,” Ruaidhri Higgins said.

“When you have the likes of Pat (Hoban) now, you can deliver crosses more, and he thrives on that. We probably haven’t had that type of centre-forward before, and if teams defend deep, it allows you to put in more crosses.

“We just have to find different ways of breaking teams down because, I did feel a lot of times last year that for us to score a goal, it nearly had to be a perfect goal, particularly in the first half of games here at the Brandywell.

“I think we have to learn from that and come up with different ways to break opposition down who are disciplined and hard to break down. We need to have variety in our play, particularly here at home and I hope we can be more ruthless and I have no doubt that we can be because we definitely have the talent and the ability to do that.”

The debate about the artificial surface has raged season after season now, with some in little doubt that the Candystripes are held back from realising their true potential due to altering their game at home. Patrick McEleney admits there are limitations.

“I can guarantee one thing – if we were playing on grass, there would be more wins,” he said. “That's my honest opinion on it. But it isn't grass, so there's no point in even complaining about it. It's a different game. In my mind it's a completely different game. You ask Shamrock Rovers, who play on a carpet every week at home, then they come up here and they have to adjust, they will tell you yes, there's no doubt, but again, you can't control it. You just have to get on with it.

“We could use that as an excuse but at the end of the day it's still a big pitch and it's our home and it needs to be better. It's not the only thing we need to tidy up on. But, if you go on and win things, you don't even look at these things because they are small margins, but it's just those things we need to tidy up on. There's no doubt we can be better at home, and have more of a killer instinct.”