Will Patching living in hope as Derry City have chance to close gap at Drogheda

​Anything other than three points would ultimately end the Brandywell club's faint hopes of pipping Shamrock Rovers to the title but there remains belief in the Derry camp a 26 years drought can be bridged, particularly after Friday night's demolition job on UCD.

Rovers have been handed an unwanted three week hiatus due to their next opponents, Cork City's FAI Cup semi-final date and the upcoming international break.

That provides an opportunity for Ruaidhri Higgins' side to heap the pressure on the four-in-a-row title seeking Hoops with a win having narrowed the goal difference to two after that landslide 6-0 result at Brandywell.

"All we can do is keep going," said Patching. "It's on to Drogheda and hopefully we can get another three points.

"They make it hard for you and we'll get back to work this week and find a way to get another win.

"It's one game at a time and Drogheda is always a tough place to go to," he added. "They always make it tough on you as you can see with a lot of teams in the league dropping points when they go there.

"We'll get to work this week on how we can beat them and hopefully we get three points.

"We're always going to believe, right until the end. The lads in the dressing room are a great set of lads and the character is great so we're always going to believe.

"We just have to control ourselves and not worry about any other team. As long as we go about our business, we'll see what's what and hopefully it'll work out. So you never know."

His manager described Patching as a 'joy to watch' after his majestic finish opened the floodgates against UCD.

"It's magic," said Higgins. "It's a piece of class. And you can see the freedom that he's been playing with for the last three months. He's a joy to watch when he's in that sort of form."

And Patching says he's at his best when he's enjoying his football as hopes to continue his rich vein of form for the final four games of the season.

"I'd say it's probably one of my better ones so I'm delighted with it," he said of his 47th minute chipped effort from the edge of the penalty area.

"I'm enjoying my football and when I'm enjoying my football that's when I'm at my best so that's all I can keep doing really. Hopefully I can keep putting in performances like that.

"To win 6-0 is a good day at the office. We just have to focus on ourselves. That's all we can control. The rest of the results don't matter, we just have to focus on ourselves."

With Derry leading by the minimum at the break, the message was clear from the City boss.

"Stay professional, respect the opposition and keep the pressure on to see how many we can get," said Patching.

"It might come down to goal difference at the end of the season you never know, so that was the message."

And Patching delivered with that stunning strike - his 10th goal in all competitions this year.

"Danny's (Mullen) goal was great but the ball just came on me and it was just instinct," he said of his goal.

"I had a feel of where the keeper was and tried to execute it and thankfully it came off.

"Since I've come back from injury I've tried to get into the box a lot more and get into more goalscoring opportunities.

"The gaffer has been on to me about that and it's obviously working. I've got to keep trying to do it until the end of the season."