Derry City's Dutch midfielder hoping to 'Nick' first leg lead in Croatia
Dutch midfielder Nick Twisk says Derry City will be seeking a first leg advantage when they travel to Croatia for Thursday's UEFA Conference League, second qualifying round meeting with HNK Rijeka.
The Croatians ply their trade in the country's top tier - the HNL - alongside the likes of Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split and will present as formidable challenge to Tiernan Lynch's revamped Candy Stripes for whom recent signing Darragh Burns will be available after missing the defeat against CSKA Sofia.
Twisk, a former Netherlands U17 international, made an eye catching debut in the fist leg of that tie in Bulgaria and got his first Derry City start in Sunday's FAI Cup victory over Tolka Rovers. The former Alkmaar player's early impression of the club and his team-mates has been a positive one and he believes the Candy Stripes can travel to Croatia in a positive frame of mind.
"It was unbelievable to be honest," commented the midfielder on the atmosphere at last week's second leg in Derry, "The Brandywell was absolutely amazing, the atmosphere was very good.
"Obviously we were disappointed with the result because I think we were a bit unlucky but we are going to go to Rijeka for the next game and we are going to try and win that game. We don't know Rijeka very well to be honest because we haven't seen much footage of them but I think they're a good team. They have played a lot of European games and it will be tough but I think we can manage to go through."
Twisk said Derry could take confidence from the performance against CSKA and stressed the importance of a positive result in Thursday's first leg
"We want to get a result in Rijeka," he added, "We want to try and win there because then it is way easier to bring it back to the Brandywell where the atmosphere is amazing; that helps us a lot.
"The last game (against CSKA) we came back here with a defeat and then you have to push to get a goal. I’d love to get a goal ahead for the second leg."