​Let’s ‘Winny’ At all Costs!

​"If you let them start dictating the game then it could be a long night," he warned. "We need to be aggressive in there; get in their faces and give them no time on the ball."

The influential midfielder sat out the 1-1 draw with Drogheda United last week as he served a one match ban and his return for the visit of the league leaders is a timely one.

He's missed three matches this term already for disciplinary reasons - albeit his red card against St Pat's in Inchicore was highly disputed. And his absence has been greatly felt according to his manager.

"Carl is a top player," said Tiernan Lynch who welcomed his return. "You probably don't realise how much influence he has on the team until he's not in the team.

"He's a great character on the pitch and the kid is a winner. He's someone who will drag players through games."

With arguably the best midfield in the country rolling into town tonight, the former Shrewsbury skipper will be asked to play a key role to nullify the threat of Jack Byrne and Co.

And the Belfast man has challenged his teammates to stay focussed and win their duels, knowing the dangers of allowing Rovers to further stretch their five point advantage on the summit.

"They're all good players. We played them down there and you could tell they're all comfortable on the ball. They've got a good understanding in midfield and play well together.

"You want to go out there and stamp your authority on the game and show them how good we are and what we're capable of as well. Believe me we have players in this team that can hurt them.

"That midfield battle is important and we'll be doing our best to win our duels, headers, tackles, everything. They are good players but if you give players time on the ball anyone can look good. So we need to get amongst them and make it hard for them."

Rovers are in ominous, free-scoring form but Derry are on a decent run themselves and Winchester can't wait to get back out in front of a raucous Brandywell support.

"You want to play in these games. They are a good team and they're flying but as players you want to play in these games and I'm buzzing for it.”

"They're spreading the goals out at the minute and they have that quality all over the pitch where they can be dangerous but we just need to stay concentrated and focussed.

"We've been on a good little run ourselves over the last four games. We've won three and drawn one so we can go into the game with confidence, especially at the Brandywell where we've been good this season.

“Hopefully we can replicate those performances against Pats and Shels here.

"We don't want to let them get too far ahead and then you're chasing. I think once you're chasing a team like Rovers it's always hard.

"Once they get into the lead they tend to just stay there as they have good players and a lot of those players back from injury as well.

"They have a really good squad and fair play to them, they've built something really good there - something we're looking to do over the next couple of years.

"We're raring to go and fingers crossed we can put on a performance for everyone who has bought a ticket.

"It's a top of the league clash, first versus second so there's going to be a lot of hype around the game but it's important for us as players that we focus on on the pitch stuff.

"We can't let all the outside noise distract us too much because we have a job to do on Friday night but for the fans it is brilliant and anyone coming to watch it. I have a lot of family who are coming down to watch it and they're looking forward to it and are excited for it.

"We need to just focus on the game and fingers crossed we get the win and put in a good performance."