Life's a pitch for Derry City as Ben Doherty faces spell on sidelines

​The full-back sat out last Friday night's 3-1 loss to Drogheda United and could face an extended spell on the sidelines if the worst fears are realised which would be a major setback for the Brandywell club.

"He went for a scan," revealed the Derry boss who is uncertain of the timeline for Doherty's recovery. "He's now just waiting to see a specialist to see what the next stages of his rehabilitation are."

Doherty has become the latest victim of the controversial Brandywell pitch and is understood to have sustained ligament damage during the 2-1 win against Cork City - the same game Cork striker Ruairi Keating was stretchered off with a ruptured Achilles after landing awkwardly.

"Until he sees the specialist, we're unsure," added Lynch. "We actually don't know if this is going to be a rest and recovery period or whether he will need an operation."

With Adam O'Reilly accumulating five yellow cards in the opening nine matches, the Cork man also misses out tonight through suspension while Liam Boyce serves his one-match ban for his red card against Drogheda.

Sadou Diallo (broken arm) faces another three or four weeks on the treatment table, Cameron Dummigan (hamstring) another eight weeks while Pat Hoban is out through illness and a recurrence of his hamstring injury.

Lynch has been tinkering with his starting line-up due to enforced changes and for tactical reasons and the Belfast man will once again be forced to alter his starting line-up against the high flying Galwegians. In fact the Brandywell boss won't have named the same starting 11 in consecutive games for the opening 10 games!

"We haven't seemed to get any kind of momentum in what we're doing," he began.

"There have been situations when we've been chopping and changing. We shouldn't be looking for any excuses or sitting feeling sorry for ourselves.

"Sometimes the challenging times are when you do come together and the times that bring you through stormy weathers, that's what this is for us,” he added.