Derry City optimistic ahead of Europa Conference tie against Tobol Kostanay

Ruaidhri Higgins

Ruaidhri Higgins Credit: Peter Fitzpatrick (ETPhotos)

Derry City's journey to the Europa Conference third round first leg clash sees them travel 10 hours to face Tobol Kostanay in Kazakhstan. The game is scheduled for Thursday, kicking off at 3pm Irish time.

The Candystripes' recent itinerary has been nothing short of a hectic, with fixtures leading them from packed Thursday nights at the Brandywell to travelling to the Faroes, Finland, and now, to the outskirts of Asia.

Talking to the Derry City media team, City boss Ruaidhri Higgins praised the resilience and adaptability of his team during this challenging period.

He said, "Some players started off with no European experience and some had plenty of it and you can see their confidence growing."

Reflecting on past matches, Higgins emphasized, "Anyone who bothered to listen to me before the first game will know that I suggested Torshavn would be dangerous and their league was better than people thought."

"You look now and see Klaksvic in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, so our result in the Faroes and again against a quality KuPS side which had Finnish Internationals, have been really impressive."

Higgins further lauded the team's tenacity, stating, "The players deserve so much credit- not just now but over the last six months generally. We've had a lot to deal with in terms of injuries etc. but they've shown real resilience."

Referencing the recent league encounter with Shels, he elaborated, "I look back on our game at Shelbourne as an example, when we went there down to the bare bones and then had a man sent off, we dug deep to get a point. There was a bit of criticism around that result but I thought it was a key moment in our season and we went on a run after that."

On Derry City's hopes of reaching the group stage play-off for the first time, Higgins expressed, "Why not?...honestly why not? It's going to be a difficult place to go and a very difficult tie, but you only live once and these opportunities don't come around very often. It's a long journey just before a game, but they have to come here too. We'll give it everything we have over the two legs- that's for sure."

The only injury concern for Derry City is the fitness of Cameron Dummigan. Nevertheless, Higgins remains optimistic about his availability for Thursday.



 

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