City of Derry face acid test on trip to Carrick
City of Derry complete the second of back to back fixtures against the Championship 2 top two when they travel to Tom Simms Memorial Park to take Carrick on Saturday (k.o. 2.30pm).
Neil Beddow's men put in a season's best performance two weeks ago at Judges Road to become the first team to stop leaders, Strabane from winning this season. Indeed the 'Green & Black' were within seconds of victory themselves until Virgil Grootboom's last play try gave Christiaan Grobbler to opportunity to level the game with the final kick.
It was a result which gave a glimpse of Derry's potential but also a result which will have been cheered as loudly in Carrick whose only defeat of the season thus far arrived against Strabane at the end of September.
Carrick's response to that setback was an emphatic six try 45-0 victory over CIYMS two weeks ago and Beddow acknowledges his team will be in for a stern examination against a team most people had installed as pre-season promotion favourites.
"They have lost only one game so far and that was against Strabane. When you look at the rest of the results Carrick have had this year; they defeated Randalstown, and Letterkenny comfortably, they had a great victory over CI so they're certainly a top team," explained the Derry Head Coach
"They will be expecting promotion, or to at least be challenging to go up. The Strabane fixture has maybe thrown a spanner in the works for them but our draw with Strabane has done them a favour so they'll look on it as being back in their hands and they'll be anxious to make it count.
"Carrick really haven't conceded many points, other than against Strabane. Maybe that was an off day but they righted the ship the game after with a superb display against CI so they're coming into this one confident. It's up to us to prove otherwise."
Derry too can approach the game in confident mood but the draw with Strabane came at a cost with talisman Simon Logue facing a prolonged spell on the sidelines. However David Lapsley returns for Derry who currently sit fifth in the table, just six points off the top.
“When we played Strabane we needed to get something out of the game so that the gap to the top didn't open on us. Ultimately we managed to do that although it was frustrating that the performance the boys put in that day wasn't rewarded with a win.
"It's such a tight league," added Beddow, "When you consider it, had we not conceded to Strabane in the last play, and if we'd scored a try against Academy when we dropped the ball with the last play to score what would've been a winner, those points would have had us top of the table.
"Those are the fine margins in this league ultimately and it shows how valuable every point can be in this division.
"However, going to Carrick is as tough a fixture as we will likely face this season. It will be backs to the walls at times I'm sure but we will be there to give it a go.
"Carrick away is always a very tough game and we'll be giving them due respect, but we'll be fighting tooth and nail to see what we can get out of it."