League Preview: Derry City - V - Sligo Rovers

DERRY CITY

After completing European qualification following a 2-1 home victory over Bohemians last Friday night, Derry will be looking to secure a third-place finish with another victory over north-west rivals Sligo Rovers. Kick off at the Brandywell is 7.45 pm.

In comparison with 2015, Derry City have had a fantastic season under Kenny Shiels. When speaking to the Derry Journal, Shiels put this season’s achievements into perspective when announcing his 2016 objectives; “First of all we wanted to avoid relegation. I looked at the paper I bought the first week and one of the Dublin papers had a pull-out at the start of the season. Bray were 66/1 to win the league and Derry City were 150/1.”

The prediction shows just how far Derry have come in the last 12 months. However, without looking too far ahead, Shiels admits that City need to strengthen to challenge Dundalk and Cork, “We’re a bit behind Dundalk and Cork and next season we’ll look to reduce the gap,” Shiels stated.

The SSE Airtricity League Premier Division table does not lie and the Candystripes have been the third best team in the league in 2016. They have scored more goals than anybody outside of the top two. Perhaps more impressively, they have the third best defensive record in the league. It appears to be this aspect which has been most pleasing for Shiels as he announced, “In July we were in a position where we lost our two centre backs - one of them the captain of the club - a massive hole and I really don’t know how we got through it. I played four fullbacks for quite a bit of the season but we’ve dug in and done fantastic.”

The home side are chasing their first victory against Sligo in the league this season. Furthermore, Derry have failed to score on both previous league meetings between the sides as they drew 0-0 at the Showgrounds and were defeated at the Brandywell 0-2. Shiels must plan without Niclas Vemmelund and Harry Monaghan who are unavailable through suspension.

SLIGO ROVERS

Just like their hosts, Sligo have enjoyed a massive improvement in fortunes in 2016. The Bit O‘Red were fighting relegation for the majority of the 2015 campaign and only managed to evade the threat on the penultimate weekend of the season.

 Rovers are unbeaten in their last five league games and have achieved five clean-sheets in that period which is particularly striking considering two of their opponents were Dundalk and Cork.

The visitors still have an outside chance of overtaking fourth-placed Shamrock Rovers as they lie five points behind with two games remaining, but manager Dave Robertson is just concentrating on a strong finish to the season. When speaking to the club’s official website, Robertson said, “It's possible but to get there you would have to rely on other results. All we're doing is focusing on Sligo Rovers. We're away to Derry next, a tough place to go but we've proven we can do it so if we can repeat that and all of the stars align then that's a wonderful thing. But the only thing we can focus on is ourselves.”

Although Robertson feels his side can produce a better performance, he was happy with the win against Longford Town last weekend; “Our movement and patterns of play were good but I wish we'd done that for longer periods and a bit more often throughout the game. But if you'd said to me, you'll get a professional performance but it won't be pretty, I would have taken it."

Sligo will have no fear of travelling to the Brandywell as they were the first team to win there in 2016 with a 2-0 victory courtesy of goals from veteran Rafael Cretaro and Jimmy Keohane. However, the visitors will be without several key players for the trip as both Cretaro and Keohane are suspended along with Liam Martin.

Referee: Ray Matthews

MATCH STATS

The north-west rivals have met on three occasions this season. Derry defeated Sligo 2-0 in the EA Sports Cup quarter-final in April. However, ten days later, the Bit O’Red secured a surprise 2-0 reverse in the league. The league meeting at the Showgrounds ended in a scoreless draw.

Sligo are unbeaten in five league games against Derry, dating back to March 2015. The sides have drawn on three occasions with Sligo emerging victorious twice. However, Derry have beaten Sligo in the EA Sports Cup in 2015 and 2016.

BETTING

Derry City Evens; Draw 9/4; Sligo Rovers 5/2.

PREDICTION

Derry 2-1 Sligo.

Derry City

Injured: None.

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: Niclas Vemmelund, Harry Monaghan.

Sligo Rovers

Injured: Michael Sclingermann.

Doubtful: John Russell.

Suspended: Jimmy Keohane, Rafael Cretaro, Liam Martin, Tobi Adebayo-Rowling.