DERRY CITY: Rovers won't give up in race for Europe insists Bradley

Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley refuses to give up hope of catching Derry City despite a third defeat of the season against the Candy Stripes last weekend.

The Candy Stripes certainly hold a psychological edge and an EIGHT points lead over Rovers after completing a clean sweep of victories over their nearest rivals for third place at the south Dublin venue.

Kenny Shiels’ troops have taken NINE points from a possible nine against the Dubliners this season, twice winning on Rovers’ home patch, and with just eight league matches remaining Bradley admits he requires a significant turnaround in fortunes.

However, as the Hoops have a game in hand over City, Bradley reckons the eight point deficit isn’t unattainable and is confident his troops can go on a run which will put real pressure on the Foylesiders.

“Obviously we need to Derry to drop points and we need to go and win a few games and go on a run,” conceded Bradley. “I believe if we go and play like we did for the majority of the game against Derry, then we’ll win more games that we lose this year. But we still have to hope Derry slip up.

“Yeah, 100 per cent we can make that gap up again,” he added. “We’ve won the league on the last day of the season before. A lot of things happen in the run-in. I said before the game, win lose or draw for either team it wasn’t the end of the world. Nothing was handed out tonight.”