Derry City boss Ruaidhrí Higgins wants to finish on a high

Higgins admits that he also has one eye at on the start of next season as some of his players are one caution away from serving a suspension at the start of the 2023 campaign.

"We have to be really mindful because there are players close to suspension for the start of next season, one more booking rules some players out, so we have to be mindful of that," he explained.

"Our supporters have been so good to us that we need to make sure that we try and win our last home game of the season and get everyone excited for the following week.

"We also have to be mindful of players that have slight niggles, however we also want to go and win the game.

"We want to finish our league campaign and particularly at home on a high, so we have to try and manage all that, because let's be honest the big one is the following Sunday, but that's not getting away from the fact we definitely want to win our last home game of the season."

Down the years the Candy Stripes against the Lilywhites have been real ding-dong battles and the Limavady man is expecting another close encounter on Sunday evening.

Stephen O'Donnell's side know a three goal swing in their favour on Sunday would move them above the Brandywell men and that's something Higgins certainly doesn't want to happen.

Another incentive for the Candy Stripes is that the Lilywhites are the only team they haven’t beaten this season.

In their previous three games, Dundalk won at the Brandywell and the other two encounters are Oriel Park finished all square.

The league opener saw the home side take the lead thanks to goals from Steven Bradley and now City centre-back Mark Connolly, while Joe Thomson and Jamie McGonigle were on target for the visitors.

While in their last meeting, Derry thought they had taken all three points but James Akintunde’s early strike was cancelled out deep into stoppage time as Pat Hoban made no mistake with a superb powerful header in the 93rd minute.

"To be honest most games between everybody in our league are tight and they have been against Dundalk over the years," admitted the City boss.

"We want to finish in second place, there's no doubt about that.

"Second place and a cup final you would have to admit is a really successful season, but we want to cement second and we want to win the cup and if that was to be the case then you have to say it was a major success.

"I have said it from day one that our supporters have been absolutely brilliant and because of that we want to win our last home match of the year.

"The supporters have had a huge part to play on the recent run that we went on and our home form improved and the players really responded to how our supporters have been and it's a great place to play football."