Ruaidhri Higgins sitting 'comfortably' despite criticism of Derry City

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RUAIDHRI Higgins claims he's sitting 'quite comfortably' knowing his Derry City team are still in with a chance of clinching an elusive league title this season despite the criticism levelled at both him and his players over the course of the season.

The Brandywell club boasts just one win from its last seven league matches and the most recent 2-1 loss at the hands of Drogheda and the abject performance at such a pivotal time in the title race has sparked no shortage of disparagement at the door of Higgins.

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Whether that criticism has been justified or not, the Derry boss is prepared to accept the outrage from some quarters given his team has failed to take advantage of slip-ups from rivals Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers on numerous occasions.

He reckons, given the heightened expectations levels around Foyleside since he took charge of the Brandywell hotseat, criticism comes 'part and parcel' with his job and he's embracing the challenge.

Derry City manager, Ruaidhri Higgins.Derry City manager, Ruaidhri Higgins.
Derry City manager, Ruaidhri Higgins.

“At this stage, you get used to all that. We know there's an expectation now, that wasn't always here. It wasn't that long ago where we were rock bottom at the league table.

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"Expectation grows, and it grows fast, and that's what's happened here, you have to stick your chest out, and embrace that, and accept the criticism when it comes, and it can come quite regularly here, but that's part and parcel of this job, and we aren't in too bad of a position.

"We're in a cup semi-final, and have a chance to win a league title for the first time in 27, 28 years, so I sit here quite comfortably.

“We were obviously disappointed the last night, that goes without saying. It was a tough one to take, it was a kick in the ribs, there's no doubt about that, but in football, unless it's the very last game of the season, you've always got an opportunity to bounce back and we have an opportunity to do that.

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"We've shown the capacity to do that over and over again, when questions have been asked, when these players have always come out the other end and always showed a side to themselves that people might not give them that much credit for.

“We're a good group of people, we stick together, and as I said, hopefully we can see that in our performance on Friday.”

Shelbourne's defeat by St Pat's on Monday night certainly helped lift the doom and gloom which was cast heavily over Brandywell last weekend and Higgins claims the players have responded in a positive manner in training sessions this week.

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“If you'd have been over at our training session today you'd have seen a jovial, happy group of lads. They were in brilliant spirits, with some of the best goal line blocks you'll ever see in your life, they were flinging themselves about," he said.

"It was good fun, it was a good session. The spirit in the group is good, they're a really good bunch of human beings and that can always lead you somewhere.

“The previous two weeks we were very good, outstanding here against Shelbourne, and some really good stuff against Shamrock Rovers.

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"The other night was flat, but we've addressed it, we've spoken about it, and we're going into a cup semi-final, so all our focus and attention is on that, and to try and take the positives out of the previous couple of performances, is the way that I would rather look at it.

“It's a brilliant position to be in, we're right in the thick of it for both trophies. The players have been absolutely brilliant. In difficult moments they've been brilliant, they've always responded in a really positive manner.

"I love the group of players that we have here to bits, I really, really mean that, I care deeply about them and I know how much it means to our players to be successful at the club and to make people happy, and hopefully we can see that in our performance on Friday night.”