Nicky Low to miss Bray Wanderers encounter

The Seagulls make the trip to the Brandywell tomorrow night and having lost 2-1 at the Carlisle Grounds only a few weeks ago, Shiels is expecting a marked improvement from his players this time round.

“The players will want to put things right, that's for sure,” he stated.

“Bray travelled to Dundalk and got a good draw earlier in the season, so we have to be right for the game and I’m sure the lads will understand the importance of this game.”

Shiels, who admitted after Friday night’s loss at St Patrick’s Athletic that his players were tired, confirmed that one man who isn’t going to be involved against the bottom side is Nicky Low, who continues to struggle with a stomach injury.

“Nicky Low is definitely out, he’s been playing with a wee stomach complaint and he has been getting through it with pain killers,” he declared.

“He’s definitely out and we are having a look at a few others.

“I thought the players were tired but it’s difficult to know which choices to make but we need to be going into this match first and foremost with a desire to win the game.

“We then need to look at them and see where their strengths and weaknesses are.

“They have had a decent run of form, drawing with Waterford, beating ourselves and beating Shamrock (Rovers), so it doesn’t justify where they are sitting in the table.”

The Candy Stripes had a terrible start to the campaign, but they bounced back when they returned to the Brandywell, in fact during that winning spell, City defeated Wanderers and Shiels is looking for another positive result tomorrow evening.

“I’m sending that message out as much as I can and I’m very, very confident that we can get back to winning ways,” he said.

“It’s down to attitude, to commitment levels, all the things that make a football team function, we have to dig into those resources and make sure that we get ourselves up and winning again.”