Derry City should welcome back Matty Smith and Patrick McEleney for Bohemians encounter

The Brandywell men should welcome back duo Patrick McEleney and Matty Smith to their squad, but wing-back Danny Lafferty continues to struggle with a hamstring problem.

“Bohs is a tough venue,” he stated. “They are selling out Dalymount and they have a big noise around the place and they have really good players.

“I know people are talking about the players that they have lost, but if you look at their attacking options they still have really, really good attacking options Ali Coote, Liam Burt, Stephen Mallon, Kris Twardek, Junior (Ogedi-Uzokwe), Promise Omochere, Jordan Flores and Dawson Devoy, so we need to be ready for that.

“We also have got players who can do damage at the top end of the pitch for us as well and we just hope that both parts of our team come together and we can put in a really good performance and pick-up three points, as that’s the ultimate goal.”

Higgins wants his senior players such as Shane McEleney, Cameron Dummigan, Eoin Toal and Patrick McEleney to name but four to keep the squad focused.

“Defensively we have been good, but we need that to continue and we need the senior players to keep driving it,” he added. “You look at Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk over the years everyone talks about their good attacking play, but they have kept clean-sheet after clean-sheet and that’s why they have been successful. It has given them a foundation to build on.

“So we just need to keep that going and knowing that we have players at the top end of the pitch at any given moment they can turn a game.”