Ruaidhri Higgins - 'The title is there for the taking'

Ruaidhri Higgins admits the league title is there for the taking in the next few weeks.

With both Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers dropping points on Friday night, Derry City let another big opportunity pass them by with defeat at Drogheda, which means they are now back to four points behind the league leaders with just five games to go.

It is just one win and four goals scored in seven league games for Higgins and his players, who are still in sight of a league and cup double despite their poor and inconsistent form. The Candystripes head to Bohemians this weekend for a huge FAI Cup semi-final, but they do so on the back of a lacklustre performance at Weavers Park, one which left Higgins deeply disappointed.

“It's disappointing to say the least. We huffed and puffed, we had periods of possession but we lacked an edge, we lacked a spark which is disappointing given the period of season that we're in and that's on me ultimately. We didn't show an edge about our play and as I said, I take that one on the chin.”

“It's concerning, there's no doubt about that. It's concerning when you look at the performance against Shelbourne in the cup, then we got a late equaliser last week. The confidence was high and then we just lacked a spark for whatever reason. It is concerning but the one thing I will say is that we've shown the capacity to recover from setbacks and that'll be the goal again.”

The maximum total that Derry City can now achieve this season is 65 points, meaning that Shelbourne will be crowned champions if they win four of their last five games. That in itself is unlikely with Damien Duff’s team winning just one of their last nine games, but on current form Derry are unlikely to reach 65 with wins very hard to come by.

“It has to change or else that won't happen,” Higgins admitted. “You look at the form Galway are in, you look at the form St. Pats are in; it's there for the taking for someone and we need to react and react fast and you're right, our league form hasn't been good enough if you look at it over the last seven games.

“If you look at it over the last 15 games or whatever you only look at it's not bad so we just need to recover quickly and try and string some results together between now and the end of the season if we're to be successful, if we don't do that we won't be.”

Double header

Higgins now face a double header against Bohemians, first at Dalymount Park in the FAI Cup, then a league game at the Brandywell. Both games will go a long way to telling the story of this season.

“We'll never give it up that's for sure but we need to get this out of our system ASAP,” Higgins said. “I'm not making any excuses at all for the result but we need to get it out of our system ASAP and get to work because there's so, so much they play for and we need to understand that.

“It's a more hurtful thing really. It’s worrying, hurtful, disappointing, whatever way you want to look at it because when you look at the last couple of performances they've been good and we look like we've had a bit about us in every facet of the game but we didn't really do the things that we don't like doing which is disappointing and to be successful you have to do things that you don't like doing and we need to get back to that.”

A section of Derry City fans who travelled to Drogheda showed their displeasure at the result after the game and Higgins insisted they had every right to do so.

“It is understandable,” he said. “It's been a season of highs and lows a lot of it and it is understandable when you travel down here and the position that we're in. They expect us to come down here and win and they're right, that's the expectation of the club now. It hasn't always been like that but that's the expectation of the club now and that's something that we've got to deal with but what they've always done is stuck with us and I'm sure that'll continue.”