League Preview: Derry City -v- Shamrock Rovers

DERRY CITY

Revenge will be the word on the lips of the Derry City contingent on Friday (kick-off 7.45pm) after Rovers dished out a 6-1 drubbing in the reverse fixture back in March.

Since that day the trajectories of the two teams couldn’t have had a starker contrast.

The Candystripes have made the Brandywell a fortress since returning home this season, winning all five games scoring thirteen goals and only conceding two.

Derry are unbeaten in all six league games since that day while Rovers have not picked up a league win since March 30^th.

Resilience, belief and unquestionable fight saw Kenny Shiels’ men make it seven games unbeaten as they drew with Dundalk at Oriel Park on Friday night.

Derry boss Kenny Shiels is keen to keep the smiles on the supporters as he spoke to the club website.

“Gavin Peers is suspended and we will really miss his quality and organisational skills in the heart of defence,” Shiels told the club's media team.

"Ronan Hale won't be fit and he's another big loss but on the plus side Rory Patterson and Conor McDermott could both be involved and Nathan Boyle will be in the mix too.

"There is a smile on the faces of our supporters at the minute because they are getting entertained and I'm really pleased about that.

"Of course the business we're in is winning football matches and we have to take care of that as much as we can as well as entertaining.

"We've seen how good a side they are already this year but I've said so many times that we were totally undercooked in the early stages of the season.

“We weren't able to use our facilities to train until right before the season started and that had an impact on our conditioning.

"We've shown we're a better side than that since but just because Rovers are struggling at the minute doesn't mean standards can slip in any form.

"Every team can point to a pivotal time that helps them to turn their season around and we certainly don't want to be the point where Shamrock Rovers' season turns."

Shiels will be without goal machine Ronan Hale while Conor McDermott and Rory Patterson may play a part in the game but are doubts.

The club have confirmed that the reduced capacity Brandywell Stadium is almost completely sold out with online sales sold out.

SHAMROCK ROVERS

Further misery was heaped on Hoops boss Stephen Bradley on Tuesday night as First Division side Longford Town came to Tallaght and dumped Rovers out of the EA Sports Cup.

Rovers looked to be genuine title contenders early in the season. This was somewhat confirmed by a 6-1 hammering of Derry in March.

Since that game Bradley’s men have struggled and are almost a month without a league win.

Limerick came to Tallaght last Friday night and left with a point, while Bray, Bohs and Dundalk have beaten Rovers in recent weeks.

Speaking to the club website, Stephen Bradley spoke of his disappointment to crash out of the league cup and the need to get back on track.

He said: “We were disappointed [to go out of the League Cup]. We made a lot of changes but we still expected to go and win the game and progress.

“We missed our chances and got punished at the end. It was the same as last year, we wanted to go as far as possible in the competition.

“Changing the whole team obviously didn't help. It took us a while to settle down and we looked a bit disjointed at times especially in the first half.

“It was good to get game time into the lads who haven't been playing, I think that was important to keep up the match fitness.

“The players are fine and they'll be ready to go for (Friday), it's a challenge we're really looking forward to.

“Obviously we want to win, winning games is what you're in it for, we just need to get back to what we're good at it like we did against Limerick and keep doing that.

“We just need to take our chances. Against Limerick it could have been four or five so we need to be ruthless. We create chances in most games and we need to take them.

“Derry are on a good run of form so we know it's going to be a tough game but one that we're looking forward to.

“We beat them earlier. They've gone on a good run since then and I think that shows the way things can change quickly in the league with results.”

Sean Boyd is Rovers' only absentee after he pulled his hamstring during a substitute appearance last week.

Referee: Derek Tomney

MATCH STATS

Shamrock Rovers have only scored three goals in their last five games while Derry have scored 12.

Graham Burke is currently the league’s top scorer with eight, four of which came against Derry in a 6-1 win early in the season.

Derry City won all three of last year’s league meetings including a 3-1 win in their ‘home’ fixture at Maginn Park.

Aaron McEneff is hot on the heels of Graham Burke with six league goals so far this season.

BETTING

Derry City 11/8; Draw 2/1; Shamrock Rovers 7/4.

PREDICTION

Derry City 3-1 Shamrock Rovers

Derry City

Injured: Ronan Hale.

Doubtful: Rory Patterson, Conor McDermott.

Suspended: Gavin Peers.

Shamrock Rovers

Injured: Sean Boyd.

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: None.