Preview – Derry City v Sligo Rovers

Derry City vs Sligo Rovers – Friday 17th March 2023 – KO 7.45pm – Brandywell

SSE Airtricity League of Ireland – Premier Division

Match sponsored by Cable & Accessories

The Candystripes welcome North West neighbours Sligo Rovers to the Brandywell on Friday night with both sides hoping to take some real momentum into the upcoming International break.

The hosts will be putting their unbeaten start on the line against a Sligo team who have lost just once in five outings of their own.

Both sides picked up a point apiece last time out- Derry and Dundalk finishing goalless with the Bit O’ Red coming from behind to draw with Cork.

Ruaidhri Higgins was at that game in the Showgrounds last Saturday and was impressed at how the home side fought back to claim a share of the spoils.

“They did well to show the guts and character to come from 2 down and they never gave up” he said.

“Obviously we’re at home on Friday and the onus is on us to go and attack the game.”

“We’re really pleased with our start- 11 points from 15 is a great effort but we want to try to win the game and go into the break with our run intact.”

Mark Connolly was stretchered off during the first half of last Friday’s match and will miss out this weekend, but the manager was keeping his cards close to his chest when discussing his options.

“The news on Mark’s injury wasn’t exactly what we were hoping for but we’ve asked the specialist for clarity on the recovery process as opposed to just trying to guess a number.

“Obviously we’ve had a few lads out of the squad recently as well and a couple of them have been very close to a return, but we’ll wait and see.

“The players who have come in have done really well and we have the depth in the squad to cope with things a lot better now.”

“We’ve prepared well this week and it’s a match we’re really looking forward to.”

Friday night’s game kicks off at 7.45pm and will be shown live on RTÉ2.

Coverage

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As usual, both Drive105 and Radio Foyle will be providing live commentary coverage of the game.