DERRY CITY: City are too good to get dragged into dogfight - Buckley

The Saints find themselves deep in trouble after the first round of Premier Division fixtures as they sit second from bottom in the table. However, Buckley isn’t getting overly concerned given his side’s recent performances against Cork City and Derry.

“You’d be surprised how quickly you can get sucked into it at the bottom,” said Buckley. “Three or four points has you chasing a spot in Europe at the minute.”

He was pleased with his side’s display against Derry, a game he believes could easily have went either way. But with three teams going down this season and having watched Derry twice in the space of a week, does he think they could be dragged into trouble?

“I thought they were average against Limerick on Tuesday night but they played really well tonight. They’ve stepped up their performance and I’m sure they played like that when they beat Dundalk. I’ve no doubt Kenny will be drilling in the positives after this performance but I don’t expect them to be in trouble at all.

“Bearing in mind they scored in the 86th minute or so, it was the least they deserved. I thought Derry played very well. They passed it well, a decent brand of football and played it out from the back which I’d encourage and I thought they were terrific.

“I was up here on Tuesday night watching Derry against Limerick and they weren’t a patch on how they were tonight.

“There’s not an easy game in the league. If you don’t turn up or you half look at it you’ll be done over. You have to apply yourself in every game otherwise you’ll find yourself exactly where we are at the minute.”