Tiernan Lynch convinced there's plenty of firepower in misfiring Derry City ranks
TIERNAN Lynch is convinced his misfiring Derry City attack has enough firepower in its reserves to turn around its fortunes in front of goals.
The Candy Stripes have scored just three goals in their opening four matches - just one of those coming from play, Michael Duffy's header against Shelbourne at Tolka Park on the first night of the season.
Duffy netted the winning goal against Bohemians with a stunning free-kick while Pat Hoban scored from the penalty spot in the 2-1 loss to Waterford last time out at Brandywell.
Getting three points is the priority but Lynch agrees his team need to start finding the net more regularly to give themselves every chance of putting a much needed winning run together.
"That's something we've been working at and looking at, ways and means of things we're maybe not getting right," he said. "You look at the Waterford game and I think our XG [expected goals statistic] on the data was up at 3.4 or 3.5 or whatever it may be.
"So you can see what they're trying to do and the work that's going on. We just have to keep at it. We've got to get the shoulders out, take the criticism when it comes. I said this on Monday night and I'll say it again; I totally get where the fans are coming from. They want results. They're frustrated because they deserve the results. We've got to keep the shoulders out and keep going.
"I think there was a lack of penetration for all our dominance at times [against Pat's] and that's something we are working on and no doubt we will improve on in the coming weeks." Lynch has an embarrassment of riches in terms of attacking players with Liam Boyce, Dom Thomas, Gavin Whyte, Danny Mullen, Sean Patton, Duffy and Hoban all capable of getting amongst the goals.
With the team struggling in front of the posts so far, Galway isn't exactly the ideal opposition to be welcoming to Brandywell in a bid to rectify those problems. They've conceded four from their opening five matches but are notoriously stubborn to break down.
"Everybody knows what Galway are going to bring," added Lynch. "They're a hard working side under John [Caulfield]. They're not a team that is going to come and be overly expansive and think about how many passes they can make or the type of football they can play.
"I'm sure they will come with plenty of positivity and feel they can get a result. We have to be up for the challenge at our end.
"We need goals and clean sheets and that's something we've been working really hard on. Again, I can't ask any more of the players, the work that's going on in the training field and the work that's going on in the analysis. It probably just needs to fall into place for us and get that little bit of luck and get that result and go and build on it.
"I've been saying this from the first day we walked in the door. We're expected to try and win every game and that's not going to change. I keep publicly saying this and keep privately saying this to the players, we can't ask any more of them. They're working really hard.
"Without trying to feel sorry for ourselves or make any kind of excuses I think there were definitely big decisions in all those games that went against us.
"We're probably frustrated because we feel in most of those games we've been the better team. Against Waterford we created enough chances in our opinion to win that game.
"Against Pat's the other night, again we felt we were well in that game until certain situations happened. We're going to work hard and Friday's another night, we go again."
Carl Winchester serves the first of his two match suspension following the club's failed unfair dismissal appeal for his red card against St Pat's on Monday night. Ronan Boyce [knee] is rated doubtful while Cameron Dummigan [hamstring] remains on the long term absentee list.