Derry City 'still raw' after last league defeat in Sligo

Derry City vs. Sligo Rovers

Tonight, 7:45pm

Ruaidhri Higgins admits his team is still ‘raw’ from the manner of their late defeat at Sligo Rovers back in May.

City haven’t lost a league game since losing to Seamus Keogh's last-gasp winner at the Sligo Showgrounds, a defeat which came amidst a seven-game winless run. Since then, the Candystripes have gone 11 league games unbeaten with 6 wins and five draws in that time and are now right on the heels of league leaders Shamrock Rovers. They go into tonight’s game on the back of four successive wins and four successive clean sheets and very much a team in form, but the pain of that loss in Sligo remains.

“It’s a game we’re looking forward to,” Higgins said. “We haven’t beaten them this season and they beat us back in May in the 94th minute. It hurt and that was a bad night for us and it’s important that we approach this game the way we have done in recent weeks.”

“That defeat was at the back end of a really difficult period for us, and it’s still a bit raw to be honest. It was a really difficult time for us. We have lost four games so far this season, and there was three in a row, and that was the third in a row so it hurt. We weren’t full of confidence in that last game, but we now are full of confidence.”

Defenders Cameron McJannet and Ciaran Coll as well as midfielder Sadou Diallo face late fitness tests after going off injured in the weekend win over Bohemians, but on the back of a rich vein of form, Higgins has every faith in the depth of his squad.  

“The players have been great and I can’t speak highly enough of them,” he stated. “The players and staff and everyone are working extremely hard. It’s great to see the win against Bobs because it showed a different side to us that maybe people didn’t think we had. We rolled our sleeves up and dug it out; to win football matches in this league you both sides of the game and I think we’re showing that at the minute.”