Derry City keen for Waterford game to go ahead as planned

A decision on whether Derry City's encounter at Waterford's RSC Stadium will take place on Monday, is expected later this evening.
Derry City boss Ruaidhri Higgins.Derry City boss Ruaidhri Higgins.
Derry City boss Ruaidhri Higgins.

Waterford informed the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) on Friday that due to a major electrical problem in the RSC, that Monday evening's game was in doubt.

Since then the FAI and both clubs have been in discussions and a decision is likely to be made sometime today.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It's believed the Brandywell men have offered numerous suggestions to play the game either on Monday or Tuesday, however they aren't keen on the game being rescheduled to a later date, something which Blues boss Marc Bircham had suggested on social media.

The ex-QPR midfielder stated on Twitter: "If we are made to play at a neutral venue or even behind closed doors in the middle of the day it would be an action of total injustice. I hope common sense prevails and the game will be rescheduled for another night as there is still over a month left of the season."

It's also thought that the Candy Stripes have informed the FAI of numerous options to play the game, even offering to stay an extra day and possibly playing the game on Tuesday.

Derry are very keen for the game to be played this week and if the match is rescheduled for Monday, November 8th, which has been suggested in some quarters, then that may mean the Candy Stripes could be without right-back Ronan Boyce and midfielder Bastien Héry for potential games against both Waterford and Sligo Rovers, if the duo receive call-ups to the Republic of Ireland U21 and Madagascar squads respectively.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Higgins is preparing his players for a game on Monday, as they had a light cool down training session earlier this morning.

"We have a match now in a couple of days, which has a bit of confusion around as well and that's my main focus," he stated after Friday night's game against Bohemians.

"We have to make sure that the players recover in the best possible manner and we prepare in the best possible manner to go and try and pick up a huge three points against one of the best teams in the country for the last three or four months.

"There's an issue with the electrics or something at the RSC stadium, so there's a health and safety issue. There's a few things flying around at the minute. There's three or four options, but we'll know more on Saturday what the outcome will be and we'll take it from there."