Derry City face tough task against St Pat's
Derry City will bid to end a five-game winless streak in the league when they host unbeaten St Patrick’s Athletic in a televised encounter at the Brandywell this evening.
The Candystripes are unbeaten in their last nine fixtures against the Saints in all competitions. St Pat’s last league win at Derry was in June 2008.
Derry’s Patrick McEleney is suspended while Stewart Greacen (knee), Kevin Deery (knee) and Mark Farren (hamstring) are set to miss out.
Rory Patterson, Stephen McLaughlin and Shane McEleney could feature after returning to training.
Saints midfielder James Chambers (knee) is likely to be on the sidelines for six to eight weeks, while Stephen O’Flynn still has a slight thigh strain.
Derry City boss Declan Devine said: "We have to pick ourselves up again this week and get to the level of passion and commitment we showed last Friday night.
"So far this season we haven't utilised the home support and the advantage that gives us, but we must use it to our advantage against St Pat’s.”
St Patrick’s Athletic boss Liam Buckley paid tribute to his counterpart ahead of the game.
“Derry are in fine form lately and the work that Declan Devine has done there to date has been tremendous,” he said.
“There’s no easy games in this league, but Derry in the Brandywell is always a challenge and it will be a tough game.”
