Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe enjoying life at Derry City and wants to repay boss Ruaidhri Higgins with goals

The Londoner, who has been nominated for SSE Airtricity/SWI Player of the Month for September, believes his return to the Brandywell has gone well thanks to the Limavady man and his Derry team-mates.

Ogedi-Uzokwe has been a fans’ favourite amongst the Candy Stripes faithful and last month in particular he was in superb form, scoring in all three games against Finn Harps, Bohemians and Longford Town. However, he was quick to point out that the team as a whole is a big reason for him doing so well.

“Apart from me doing well, the boys have made it easy for me, because as a team we have done very well,” he insisted.

“We are in a good position and have had some good wins and great results over the past few weeks so, yeah, the team has done very well.

“All the boys have helped me a lot. They have got me assists to help the team win as well, making September a very positive month for all of us.”

The striker, who was subjected to abhorrent racist messages on his social media account after the recent league game at Bohemians, has scored five goals during his second spell on Foyleside but revealed his future is still to be sorted. However, his only focus for now is finishing the 2021 season strongly.

“There are a lot of positive things happening at Derry, but I can’t really see what’s going to happen in the future and I can’t really speak about my future because obviously I’m a Dundalk player on-loan to Derry,” he admitted.

“I just have to do what I can to help Derry as much as I can by trying to score, get assists and help the team win, but right now I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.

“Obviously I’m enjoying my time at Derry and hopefully I can keep doing well and help the team win games.

“It’s easier as well when you have a manager who believes in you, plays you and knows what you can do and Ruaidhri has done that for me. He has given me that chance to enjoy my football and I have enjoyed playing under him, so hopefully I can repay the faith he has shown in me and then we’ll sit down at the end of the season and see what happens.”

Derry currently sit just four points behind third placed Sligo Rovers and one clear of fifth placed Bohemians. They are right in the race for European football but the 27-year-old isn’t focusing on league positions and is just looking at the next game which is St Patrick’s Athletic at home next Friday.

Junior, like his manager, was a little disappointed with their performance at champions Shamrock Rovers in their last outing, when they suffered a narrow 2-1 loss at Tallaght Stadium and wants to put that display behind them.

“We are taking each game as it comes and aren’t really looking at the third or fourth spot. We are just literally taking each game as it comes, because we want to try and win every game we play, that’s just the mentality of the boys.

“Everything is positive and we are just looking to win as many games as possible,” he added.

“Against Shamrock we, as a team, felt that we weren’t up to our usual levels and it was a tough one to take, but, look, we go again. We were disappointed that we didn’t actually have a game this week so that we could put it behind us.

“Now need to go into the St Pat’s game positive and hopefully we can get a win.”