Preview: Rovers take on Derry on Friday night

Sligo Rovers take on Derry City on Friday night in The Showgrounds as the Bit O’ Red look to make it back to back victories.

The Bit O’ Red have played out close games with the Candystripes this season, taking three points in the last home game through Will Fitzgerald, a point in a 1-1 away draw and a narrow 2-1 defeat thanks to a Will Patching injury-time penalty.

Rovers notched a 2-0 victory over UCD last week, now currently sitting in eighth in the table.

There are just three home matches left in the season for Rovers with no home game after Friday for a month.

The next home game is Friday 20 October against Dundalk so we encourage supporters to attend on Friday if possible on a big night for the club.

In team news, Mark Byrne, Gary Boylan and Will Fitzgerald remain out with long-term injuries.

Manager John Russell said: “It’s brilliant to have another home game. It was a positive night last week getting the three points.

““I thought we were fully deserving of the win last week, it was great to get two goals, it could have had a couple more and we kept a clean sheet. We want to build on that. It was a different type of performance from us and I was happy with it overall.

“The games against Derry have been very close. They’re a really good side of course and we’ve done well against them this year, albeit we could have got more out of the games.

“We’ll bring a game plan into Friday and we come into it with the confidence from last week.

“There was a spring in the step of the players this week on the back of getting a win. It was a good time for the club overall so to be back in The Showgrounds is great.

“The support we have had was fantastic, we’ve got three more nights here and we want to make them count.

“We know they’ll be behind us and we want to give them something to shout about early on.”

Tickets are available at turnstiles using cash or via card.

Friday also marks the final day for our outgoing CEO Colin Feehily, the club look forward to marking his many years of outstanding service with the Bit O’ Red.