It hasn’t been the happy homecoming which Mikhail Kennedy might have expected, but he is keen to stay at his hometown club and make a name for himself.

The 20-year old is on a short-term loan deal from Charlton Athletic and, like team mate Nicky Low, could leave Derry City in the coming weeks. Kennedy revealed after Friday’s draw at Drogheda that his future will be decided soon, but he was adamant that he wanted to stay, with first team football and Europa League football his preference.

“I have spoken to Kenny (Shiels) and I have spoken with Charlton and they are keen for me to have a break, but if I have a chance to play in the Europa League and play for Derry then I would 100% stay,” he said.

“I now have to speak to agent after this weekend and if it comes down to going back to Charlton and playing U23 football or staying here and playing first team football, then it’s a no brainer for me, because I need to develop. But no one can say what’s going to happen because in football everything can change in 24 hours.”

Kennedy was given the opportunity to impress by starting at Drogheda on Friday night and he admitted he was determined to prove to his manager that he has a future at Derry.

“Personally I’m glad to 90 minutes and get another start, but it means nothing because of the result,” he added.

“We shouldn’t be drawing with teams like that and that’s no disrespect to Drogheda, but we are 10 times the team that they are, but it just didn’t happen for us.

“It was tough on that pitch, especially in the final third where it was bobbly but I think if I’m match fit I would have scored that, but it happens to striker’s that they lose their sharpness after a few games if they aren’t playing, but I was disappointed not to score.

“It has been very frustrating few months but you can’t let it get you down, you have to just keep working hard,” he continued. “I have spoken to Kenny and to be fair to him he has been honest with me, every time I spoke to him and I appreciate it that in a manager. So, when he told me I was starting I was delighted about it.

““I told myself before the game to forget about everything else, he (Shiels) wants hard work from me, so I’m going to work hard for him and that’s the bare minimum every footballer should do. I was a bit disappointed with the first half, it was tough because I couldn’t see a thing with the sun but I just said continue to work hard and I felt I did that and left everything on the pitch. But to come off at 0-0 you always think you can give more.”

Kennedy admitted that the prospect of playing Drogheda at United Park was a world away from facing the likes of Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk. He refused to use that as an excuse for the result however.

He stated: “Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk, you get up for those games that goes without saying and you playing in front of a few thousand; then you come here and it’s like you playing in front of a few hundred, the pitch is bobbly, it’s tight and everything is just horrible about it.

“The whole second half they were playing for a draw, so they sort of bring you down to their level and it’s hard to motivate yourself because you know you are better than them, whereas in the Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk games we know that we are just as good if not better but we have to raise it a bit more, so I think we just let ourselves down tonight, thinking that we were better than them when on the night we probably weren’t.”

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