City of Derry vs Bective Rangers: Bec' to their best

It's the biggest weekend yet for City of Derry as they prepare for the visit of Bective Rangers to Judge’s Road on Saturday. Richard McCarter’s team have been excellent in 2017 and continued their unbeaten league run this calendar year with a win over Old Crescent five days ago. That victory brought the Judge’s Road side level with Skerries in eighth place and just one point behind Rangers in seventh. It’s an unbelievable turnaround in form for McCarter and his side who could only manage one draw in their opening eight games. Despite that poor start to the season Derry have actually lost less games than Skerries and Rangers above them and they will be hopeful of adding another mark to the tally of this week’s opponents – a win that would lift them out of the relegation zone for the first time this season. While they have put 11 points between themselves and bottom placed Thomond, the Judge’s Road men are still currently at risk as they occupy the perilous ninth place that would require a promotion/relegation play-off against the Division 2C second placed team. William McCleery is the only man who is out of contention for the weekend, having broken his nose and cheekbone against Old Crescent. Looking ahead to the game against Bective Rangers, coach McCarter said his team must use the experience of the last month to keep their winning run going. “Saturday was good for us and it’s obviously positive if you’re winning games to keep that streak going. We’ve gotten that bit of experience that we were maybe missing before,” he told the Derry News. “We’re in a bit of form but we can’t go out on Saturday and expect that we’re going to win just because of the last few weeks. We have to stay grounded and have the same attitude to games. The danger of being complacent is something we have to be well aware of.” His team know that a victory is guaranteed to lift them further up the table and the coach agreed that this was the biggest game of the season so far for his team. “If we beat Bective then we’re out of the relegation spots and maybe then we can reassess our goals for the season but for now we have to focus on the weekend’s game. “Yes it probably is the biggest game of the season in terms of the implication it will have on the table but we have to maintain the same attitude and desire that we have shown in recent weeks and not focus on the magnitude of the match.” Having now won four games on the bounce McCarter insisted that the men in green must use their confidence, as just one bad performance could see the direction of the season shift again. “There’s lots of rugby left to be played and plenty of teams around us who will feel that they can make a good go of it as well,” the coach said. “We’ve done well since the New Year but if we can’t keep that up then it will be all for nothing. We have to keep going and finish off the job at hand. “It would be a real pity if we were to let it slip because we have worked really hard to get ourselves into this position. From last year we know only too well how things can change so we’ll keep taking it game by game,” he added. Derry scored three tries last week – something that they struggled with early on in the season – and the coach admitted that it was a relief to see his team crossing the whitewash more with every passing game. “It’s been down to personnel mainly. We have a lot more recognised players in the team and that has made a big difference in terms of our scoring. “Our confidence continues to build and on Saturday we were happy with three tries and I would say we really could have had one or two more,” McCarter explained. “Before Christmas boys were scared of making mistakes but now we’re back where we need to be. We’ve been helped by the addition of one or two great players as well.” A two week break will follow this game before Derry face a tough game away to Wanderers, before welcoming league leaders Greystones to Judge’s Road. “We’ve done well to get off the bottom spot and now we want to move out of the relegation zone. Getting back into a position where we are within touching distance of those above us has been massive, but we definitely want to get a win not just to keep our run going but to keep confidence high for the next few weeks while we’re out of action. “You don’t want to dwell on a bad result but equally it’s important to finish on a high and refocus ourselves over the next fortnight,” he concluded.