Trojans aiming to make Irish Cup history

Trojans are one game away from a place in the last 16 of the Irish Cup and manager Paul Higgins says they have ‘no fear’ against Championship team Armagh City.

The Blues have made a strong start to their Northern Ireland Intermediate League campaign with a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Strabane Athletic the only blip in their record.

Currently on a five game winning streak, confidence is high amongst the Oakland Park squad, but they will need every ounce of it to stand a chance of progressing this weekend.

While Armagh are only entering the competition at this stage, the Derry side have already overcome four teams, with victories over Immaculata, Crumlin Star, 18th Newtonabbey Old Boys and Drumaness Mills ensuring their safe passage to this round.

Though they were drawn to play at home Oakland does not meet the requirements of the Irish FA and as a result the Blues face a lengthy journey to Holm Park.

Manager Higgins is not deterred by the calibre of the opposition or the disadvantage of travelling however and he said his team are excited to get out on the pitch.

“It’s a big day for the club. It’s the furthest we’ve ever gotten in the tournament. We’re definitely the underdogs and we’re well aware of that fact but we have nothing to lose,” he told the Derry News.

“We can go up there with no fear and considering that nobody is really giving us a chance to win we’re able to go and express ourselves.”

Friendly

In what is indeed a momentous occasion in the Creggan side’s history a Christmas break has not helped preparation but a friendly on Tuesday against Institute, managed by former Trojans boss Kevin Deery, certainly proved advantageous in spite of a 2-0 defeat.

“It was more about the run around to be honest,” Higgins explained.

“Playing a full game is a lot better than training and it gave us the opportunity to work on our shape. The objective mainly was working on the back four and the defensive unit – things like balls into the box and defending corners – and I think we successfully done that.

“It wasn’t a great outcome on the scoreboard in the end up but that wasn’t what we were focused on. We wanted to test ourselves defensively in particular and from that aspect I’m happy enough with the preparation it gave us for Saturday,” he added.

Struggling

Their opponents are certainly not sharing the same rich vein of league form as Trojans as they continue to struggle just above the Championship relegation zone. City also visited the Riverside Stadium to play Institute three weeks ago and there were some interested spectators in the stands.

“I’ve watched Armagh and we know what to expect from them which is maybe something that they can’t say about us.

“We worked hard against Institute on Tuesday who are a Championship team and have beaten them twice already this season,” said Higgins.

“Armagh are a physical team. They work on their set pieces a lot and they get a lot of joy from balls into the box so we have been mainly focusing on that in the lead up to the game. They fight for the second ball and that’s something that we have been learning to adapt to.”

The recent winning streak has been a drastic turnaround from the Derry side’s October form when they lost four games on the bounce and the manager agreed that they had put that behind them to go from strength to strength.

“Unfortunately the Christmas break came at the wrong time for us because we were going really well and we were winning week after week,” he said.

“We’re just coming out of a two week break now which maybe didn’t suit us but we had our friendly match and we’ve been training well so we have every chance of keeping that run going on Saturday.”

Having scored 20 goals and conceded just three in the last five games it’s not surprising that the Blues are going into the game with confidence. Front man Darren McFadden has been in fine goal-scoring form of late and with experienced players like Darren McCready and Brian McClean proving their importance in recent weeks the manager said that every player must stand up and be counted.

“We have got experience in the team and that’s always going to be vital in games like this,” insisted Higgins.

“We have former senior footballers who have played in big matches before. We have got that experience in the right areas as well and then there’s a few great young lads in there as well and it makes for a good blend.

“We’re fortunate to have a lot of enthusiastic youth coming through who want to play and who want to score goals and in fairness to ourselves I think we have a lot of goals and goal scorers in the team,” he concluded.

Armagh City vs Trojans take on Armagh City at Holm Park, Armagh on Saturday at 1:30pm.