Ruaidhri Higgins admits Derry City's home form must improve in 2023

Ruaidhri Higgins has admitted that Derry City’s home record must improve in 2023 if they are to stay in touch with Shamrock Rovers in the race for the league title.

Last year, the champions dropped points on just two occasions at Tallaght, winning 16 from 18 league games, and picking up 50 points from a possible 54 as Stephen Bradley’s side won a third successive league title.

In contrast, the Candystripes’ home form was inconsistent throughout the year, with City winning just eight times from 18 games at the Brandywell. Overall, Derry City drew seven and lost three home games, dropping 23 points in total.

Come the end of the 2022 season, Rovers had picked up 19 points more at home than their closest title challengers.

“It’s key that we make this place very, very difficult to come to,” Higgins agreed. “I think we did improve as the season went on at home, but there’s no doubt about it that we need to win a large percentage of our home games.

“I don’t think our home form was what it needed to be last year, so every three points is absolutely crucial and we’ll be coming here with the mindset on Friday to try and win this game.”

Tickets for the first league game of the season have been very hard to come by for fans, with the Brandywell’s limited capacity making it a frustrating situation for many. Higgins is well aware of the ticket problems, but he is staying focused on ensuring that his team continue to perform in a manner which makes the fans want to return every time.

“Every home game we hope we can entice the supporters to come back,” he said. “There’s an onus on us to make sure that we play the right way and work really hard and make sure the supporters can keep identifying with the team. Hopefully we walk out to a full house on Friday and I’m sure we will and hopefully it remains that way for the full season.”

Tomorrow’s game sees the renewal of a rivalry with Cork City which has brought many memorable nights to supporters of both clubs. Colin Healy’s side returned to the Premier Division with a 2-1 defeat at home to Bohemians last week and will be underdogs against a Derry City side also looking for its first win.

Higgins, who played in an era when the rivalry with Cork was arguably at its most intense, knows full well the importance of the game.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he continued. “There are a lot of similarities between the two clubs. They are big clubs with just one senior club in the city and the fixture between the two clubs over the years. particularly when I was here as a player, were mouth-watering and hopefully there’s more of the same to come this year.”

Every Premier Division fixture on day one of the new season, bar the result at Turner’s Cross, ended in a draw, reinforcing Higgin’s opinion that his team’s point at Inchicore was a good result, despite conceding a last-minute equaliser.

“I don’t think we were at our best, and when you’re not at your best, to come away with a point from Inchicore is a positive,” he reiterated. “We are disappointed that we conceded late, but we move on and there are now three points on offer on Friday and we want to capitalise on that and try and win the game.

I don’t think the league really settles for seven or eight game sand there will be surprising results over the next number of weeks I’m sure and hopefully we’re on the right end of positive results.

Injuries

Michael Duffy and Cameron McJannet, who picked up injuries in Dublin last week, are expected to miss tomorrow’s game, as is Cameron Dummigan who has a more long-term problem. Sadou Diallo meanwhile will sit out the last game of his suspension after his red card against Dundalk at the end of last season.

“Maybe this time last year we mightn’t have been able to deal with it as well, but we have a good group here and I trust ever single player in the squad,” Higgin said.

“We’re all working really hard and we do have a few bodies missing, but we do have numbers in our squad and good quality in our squad and we’ll trust every player.”