The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium is Sligo Rovers’ destination this (Friday) evening as the Bit O’Red take on Derry City in what is our final game of the third round of Premier Division fixtures.
Unbeaten in three, Rovers will travel to Derry hoping to pick up a first win at the Lone Moor Road venue since the summer of 2020, a game which marked the re-start of football after the covid 19 pandemic.
This will be Rovers’ second visit to Derry this season and the first time since City’s new hybrid pitch was laid. Sligo were beaten by an injury time Josh Thomas goal on the opening night of the season, the last time we played there. While April’s joust between the clubs at the Showgrounds ended in a scoreless stalemate.
Darren Purse’s side go into this game three points adrift, knowing a win would move us level with Waterford who play on Sunday.
This is also the Candystripes’ first game since former manager Tiernan Lynch departed the club on Wednesday afternoon. Director of Football Mark Connolly will lead their side for tonight’s game.
Rovers will travel north without Archie Meekison who will serve the second of a two match ban.
Injured duo Jad Hakiki and Conor Reynolds are likely to be out for the rest of the season, while Daire Patton is struggling with appendicitis and is likely to miss out.
Kevin Zefi should be OK, despite picking up an injury in the lead up to last week’s game with Dundalk at Oriel Park.
Previewing the game, Purse tells sligorovers.com that a change in personnel on the Derry bench is likely to make little difference to what lies ahead.
Purse is also looking forward to getting back to playing on grass after last week’s game on the Dundalk astro.
“Our preference is grass”, he says.
“But I can understand why clubs change. But Derry looks fantastic now and it’s one that we can go up there and look to play some really good football on. But I think it’s what we do out of possession of the ball that will dictate whether or not we get a result from the game.
“I thought we deserved more out of Drogheda but I don’t think we deserved much from Dundalk, so it’s been a tale of two games really. One we deserved the point and one we maybe didn’t. I think we need to try and get more control in games if we can and that’s one of our main aims.
“Derry will be tough. They’ve a huge squad to choose from and they’ll provide a challenge but it’s one my players will be up for.
“Tiernan leaving doesn’t change much. They’ve still a big squad and plenty of options. They’ll probably change things a bit, their shape, they might go a bit more direct. We don’t know? We’ll have to be adaptable.
“All we can do is concentrate on ourselves. We try to approach every game as best we can. It’s what we do as a team that can get us out of the position we’re in. That’s all I and we can focus on. Whatever happens after that, we’ll have to manage and deal with from there.”
Kick-off at the Brandywell is 7.45pm.
David Goulden