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Derry City -v- Bohemians
- Jamie Mahon
- Thu, Jun 16 2011
Pat Fenlon takes his Bohemians side to his former club Derry City on Friday evening in what is sure to be a fiery encounter at the Brandywell. (Kick off, 7.45pm)
In the first meeting of the sides this season, Derry City came away from Dalymount with all three points, with Danny Lafferty and James McLean scoring in a 0-2 victory, a result that Stephen Kenny will hope to replicate when the Gypsies arrive in the North West.
Only four points separate the two sides in what has been a very competitive league this term and Pat Fenlon will be buoyed by the fact that although their home form has been patchy, they have lost just once away from home and that was to the league champions.
Ruaidhri Higgins and Gareth McGlynn will be lining up against their former club, although ex Derry winger Killian Brennan is suspended for Bohs. Stephen Kenny will be hoping the form of his Libyan international frontman Eamon Zayed continues as he leads the league scoring chart with twelve goals. Talismanic forward Patrick McEleney is however doubtful due to a bout of illness over the course of the week. Bohs will be missing Ger O’Brien with a hamstring problem and Chris O’Connor with a face injury sustained at Sligo last week.
Derry have been somewhat unpredictable over the last few weeks, with high scoring wins against U.C.D and Galway and a loss at Wexford, in the FAI Cup but they are coming off the back of two hard earned draws against St Pats and Shamrock Rovers which will settle the nerves of the Candystripes.
Kenny commented “Bohs have a lot of players who have won a lot of trophies, they have a very experienced first eleven with a young bench so we’ll have to be at our best. They’re not going to come up here and lie down, as they showed when they won in Sligo, but we’ll take confidence from our performances at Inchicore and in the way we came back against Rovers”.
Fenlon said “Aidan Price will come back into the reckoning this week, Ger O’Brien won’t be available, Chris O’Connor will struggle, Killian Brennan has a ban, but everyone that’s come in has done well, so we’ll just have to jockey it about a little bit, that’s all we can do”.
With Bohs missing a few key personnel I fancy Derry to sneak a 2-1 victory in front of the Brandywell faithful.
Derry City:
Injuries: Emmett Friars (hip).
Doubtful: Patrick McEleney (illness).
Suspended: None.
Bohemians:
Injuries: Ger O’Brien (hamstring), Chris O’Connor (face).
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: Killian Brennan.
Referee: Dave McKeon.
Paddy Power odds: Derry City 10/11; Draw 9/4; Bohemians 3/1.
Extratime Prediction: Derry to sneak a hard fought affair 2-1.
About Jamie Mahon
Jamie Mahon joined the Extratime team at the beginning of 2011. Hailing from the North West, Jamie reports on all things Derry City. He can be contacted at theearcher@hotmail.com or on Twitter @JamieMahon23.