'Sligo always seem to up their game when we come to town'

Sligo Rovers vs. Derry City

Sligo Showgrounds

Tonight, 7:45pm

Ruaidhri Higgins has not forgotten the pain of defeat to Sligo Rovers back in May, a night when Derry City suffered a significant blow in their chase for the league title.

The Candystripes went to the Showgrounds in May with the opportunity to go four points clear at the top of the Premier Division, but instead fell to a 1-0 defeat thanks to a very early goal from former City player Will Fitzgerald. That proved to be the start of a damaging run of results which brought just one win in seven league games, a period of the season which now looks to have cost Higgins and his players dearly given the draw with Shamrock Rovers last week.

Derry City have had consistent problems with Sligo in recent seasons, winning only two of the last seven, and winning none of the last three visits to Sligo. They are an opponent which Higgins never enjoys facing.

“You move on but you never forget it,” he said. “I still remember every defeat, how it felt, and that’s what drives you to be honest that feeling of failure if you want to call it that, that feeling of getting beat, and you have to use that feeling to motivate you, to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

“For whatever reason, Sligo go up a level or two when we come to town, so we have to be ready for that, and produce a display similar to what we’ve been producing for the last couple of months.

“We have to show an inner desire and inner drive to take three points, because when you win down there it is a really good feeling, but we haven’t felt that for a while down there.”

Derry City suffered yet another blow in their hope for honours this season when Graham Burke’s late penalty denied them the chance to go just one point behind the champions with six games remaining. But Higgins has watched his team bounce back from devastation on more than one occasion this season.

“That question was asked of us after the European game, and you seen our performance on the Sunday afterwards in the Cup,” he reflected. “We went out again, and then you seen how we backed it up away to Bohs and away to Dundalk and away to UCD and home to Shamrock Rovers. That question has been asked of us plenty of times this season, and we have answered emphatically every time. I have no doubt that the players will use the pain I suppose of last week, in a positive manner and go down here and try and take three points.”

Unavailable

Meanwhile, City captain Patrick McEleney looks set to miss the next few games, due to a recurrence of his Achilles injury. McEleney missed last week’s game against Rovers, and will definitely miss the tri to Sligo.

“He’s probably a couple of weeks away,” Higgins explained. “He’s had a wee setback, so he might miss the next couple. If he can contribute between now and the end of the season, there’s a lot to play for and he’s a talented footballer, so if he can available for us, that’s what we will be looking for, and if not, we’ll deal with it. I’m hopeful that in the next couple of weeks he’ll be available again.”

Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley and his players celebrated in front of the travelling fans following the draw last week, qn indication that they felt the job was done in the title race. It did not go unnoticed by Higgins. 

“I seen it,” he said. “They obviously feel that the point the other night was maybe the one that has got it done for them. Good luck to them; they probably came up and got what they came for, because until that moment we weren’t really troubled bar one or two moments in the first half. They got what they came for and I’m sure internally they will feel that’s enough, but it’s up to us to focus on us and try and keep picking up three points in each game and see what happens. Our first of the sux games is away to Sligo and that’s an extremely tough venue, and we know that more than anybody, so unless we do our business, it’s irrelevant what happens elsewhere.”