DERRY CITY: Rory Patterson available as City look to extend perfect start

Derry City striker, Rory Patterson is set to return to action after recovering from a knee injury sustained on the opening day of the season at Dalymount.

City’s right back, Conor McDermott is also expected to be available for selection and could be in contention to play alongside Aaron Barry at the heart of the defence as the ‘Candy Stripes’ aim to extend their perfect start to the season. Of course Aaron Netzer, Scott Whiteside and Dean Jarvis could also potentially slot into the centre back position while Ben Doherty is also available to provide another option at the back.

Derry boss, Kenny Shiels expects the Seagulls to be highly motivated to end his side’s winning run as they look to bounce back from consecutive defeats to Limerick and Sligo Rovers.

Harry Kenny’s side collected 39 points after the mid-season break last term and only eventual champions Dundalk picked up more points in the league run-in.

Kenny steered the Co. Wicklow men to their first top half finish since 2008 after taking over last June and they have started this season well, currently on nine points as they bid to challenge for Europe.

City boss, Shiels if fully aware of the attacking threat they pose but his side have their own incentives for the win as they look to keep on the coat-tails of leaders Cork and extend their winning start to five matches.

“They’ve got pace and their front four are very good,” said Shiels. “They’ve made a huge commitment towards challenging for Europe. You can see a lot of clubs have done that because of the financial rewards. Bray are very committed to challenging for a European spot and you can see that with the way they’ve started the season.

“Bray have got the motivation that if they beat us they’re up into second. So we must prepare accordingly and make sure we dominate the ball. That’s one thing I feel we will do because of the way we play. We want to score more goals than them.”

Meanwhile, City’s matches against Limerick and Galway United have been rearranged. The Limerick fixture has been rescheduled for Monday, April 24th at Maginn Park, with a kick-off time of 7.45 p.m.

The match against Galway has been rescheduled for Monday, May 8th at Eamonn Deacy Park, also at 7.45 pm.