DERRY CITY MANAGER Ruaidhrí Higgins refused to use monunting injuries as an excuse for his side’s 4-1 defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic last night, inisisting his players need to rediscover some “old school” values to get back on track in the Premier Division.
The Candystripes are now without a win in three games, a run of form which has seen them slip four points behind league leaders Shamrock Rovers.
St Pat’s are also now level with Derry in second as a result of the comprehsenive win in front of their own fans – a sixth in seven fixtures for new boss Jon Daly.
While Higgins lamented the loss of captain Patrick McEleney, given a long-standing Achilles problem forced him off in the second half, he already had to replace Michael Duffy during the half-time break because of a twisted ankle with midfielder Cameron Dummigan also replaced late on.
For the Derry boss, though, the manner of how his charges capitulated after a relatively promising start stung.
“We’ve shown a wee bit of a soft centre in recent weeks that we haven’t had in the last couple of years. It’s something I have to fix, something we all have to fix, the players the staff,” Higgins began.
“Any time a team that has beat us, they’ve had to fight for it and earn it whereas I didn’t think Pat’s had to do too much to get their win. From the first goal onwards, every second ball, every 50-50 tackle, they were the more committed side.
“That’s an old school thing to say but the basics of the game are extremely important, and it’s important not to neglect them because all good teams are built on the foundation that they do the basics really well. We were well well below par in terms of the basics.
“We can’t sweep things under the carpet, we have to address them. I have to accept responsibility. Players have to accept responsibility. There’s a bit of adversity now, do we lie down and get our bellies tickled or do we stand up and fight back. I hope it’s the latter.”
The sight of an emotional McEleney departing early in the second half only added to sense of disappointment on a night Derry were way off the pace.
“He’s had an ongoing Achilles problem, we’ve been working away at it to try and get it fixed and he felt OK coming into the game but there’s an issue there that we need to get right because it’s one step forward, two steps back for him.
“He’s so committed to the club, and wanting to bring success to the club and it hurts him. It should hurt everybody but him in particular, he was a season ticket holder at Derry as a kid, went home and away to a lot of matches, this club means the world to him and there’s devastation he can’t contribute to the team.
“It’s not easy, especially talented players like them, they want to have an impact on the club. When they’re on the sidelines it’s difficult to do that, we’ll wait and see how it settles and what the next steps are. We’re definitely a better team when he’s around.”
The expectation at Derry this season was to challenge Rovers for the title and Higgins admits the “strange” nature of this campaign means it’s difficult to get a sense of how things will still pan out.
“We’re 20 games into it now. We’ve had five defeats. We had six in the whole of last season. Two were at the back end when the league was over. And we’re still in or around the mix. That’s a really strange season, but that’s not hiding behind that.
“We’ve lost games we should have been a lot better in and we are where we are, we need to dig in and fight and have pride in ourselves and the jersey we’re wearing. We’re a big football club in Ireland, our supporters travelled down, a lot of them probably had to take a day off work because it’s not a Bank Holiday at home, and you need to serve up better than what we served off, that’s the most disappointing thing for me.”
