Declan Devine urges Derry City players to leave Dalymount Park without regrets

It’s been a stop-start campaign for the Candy Stripes but despite two successive scoreless draws, Devine remains optimistic.

He’s certainly a ‘glass half full’ type, pointing to the fact Derry have lost just one domestic game in seven and he’s confident his team can strike the right balance between attack and defence.

They face a potentially season-defining seven days with games against Bohemians, Sligo Rovers and Waterford who are all above the Brandywell club in the table.

And while time is of the essence, he’s content knowing the club’s destiny remains in their own hands with just seven league matches remaining.

“The games are coming thick and fast and in a blink of an eye this season will be over. We have to make sure we have no regrets at the end of it.

“I back this group of players and think there’s more in us still. The beauty about football is there’s always another opportunity but we’ve got to grasp these opportunities,” added an upbeat Devine.

”The season will be over in six or seven weeks. You don’t want to be looking back with any regrets,” he repeated.

“Now is the time where we have to pull all our principles together, our defensive and attacking principles. If we do that we can look forward to the game, play with no fear and do the things that are right in different moments of the game.

“We’ve lost one game domestically out of seven and that was against Shamrock Rovers. Yes, there are improvements to be made but we can’t be beating ourselves up and worrying about things not happening.

“We’ve only won two of those seven so we’ve got to turn those draws into wins. How we do that is by continuing what we’re doing on a defensive aspect but we have to get better in our attacking responsibilities and creativity.

“Hopefully, on the back of the work we’ve done this week, we can show that on Friday.”

It’s getting to the stage of the season when players naturally begin to look towards the future and with so much uncertainty surrounding the league given the Covid-19 restrictions and empty stadia, Devine stressed the importance of finishing the season on a high note to give the club the best possible chance in 2021.

The future is very much determined by the success of the current campaign.

“Some people might think it’s easy to be a footballer in this current climate - it’s not! A lot of people are looking six or seven weeks down the line and wondering what’s going to happen with them.

“The reality is we’ve got to try and finish the season on a real high in terms of having a positive outlook for the next year.

“It’s very much in our hands. We’ve got to go to a difficult venue and put on a performance that merits getting a win. Don’t get me wrong, I would gladly take playing very poorly if we were to sneak a win on Friday night.

“Everyone is working extremely hard behind the scenes and when you do that you get your rewards. Hopefully that starts on Friday night.”

Devine believes second placed Bohemians will be strong favourites going into Friday’s match at Dalymount and has been hugely impressed with the squad Keith Long has assembled.

However, the City supremo is confident his team can upset the odds should they play to their strengths.

“It’s a game they will be very strong favourites to win. We’ve got to go down there and apply ourselves in the right manner. We’ve got to be expressive and manage moments in the game when it’s difficult,

“We’ve got to go down there with a real belief that we’re going to win the game.

“Fair play to Keith and Trevor (Croly), they’ve done a magnificent job with the players they have and the way they’ve been able to structure their club over the past two or three seasons.

“They’ve brought players back from England and brought players up from their academy and St Kevin’s. Being able to manage the fact some of their players are working in a full-time environment and also playing semi-professional football.

“They deserve huge credit. They’ve been magnificent and very, very dogged in their approach. They haven’t conceded a lot of goals, they’ve scored a lot of goals.

“They’ve brought good players to the club. Andre Wright at centre forward has been magnificent for them. If you look around the periphery of their frontline with Dawson Devoy, young (Danny) Grant, and Keith Ward and (Danny) Mandroiu haven’t even been playing recently.

“They have excellent young players and they deserve credit but we’ve got to put that to the back of our minds and understand what our strengths are.

“We’ve got to try to play to those strengths a bit more than what we have done in previous weeks.”