City of Derry favourites on tricky league trip to Carrick

Richard McCarter's men will be missing out-half Alex McDonnell, centre David Graham and full-back Killene Thornton but does welcome back Simon Logue to face a Carrick team still searching for their first league victory over the season after five games. That scenario means Derry will be favourites for the trip to Tom Simms Memorial Park but McCarter is taking nothing for granted, especially given Carrick won 20-17 at Judges Road last season.

"Yeah, Carrick seem to have struggled a bit at the start of the season but we have been in that position before and that's what makes them very dangerous," explained the Derry Head Coach.

"They have absolutely nothing to lose and they performed very well in the three games against us last year. The actually beat us at Judges Road so they won't fear us and will probably see Saturday as an opportunity to kickstart their season. And I don't want to be a statistic in Carrick kick-starting their season.

"We have to be really, really focused and try to make sure we start well to put them on the back foot early on. As I said, we played them up there twice last year and they were not easy matches. They took us the full 80 minutes to win them and I'll be expecting something similar on Saturday."

And having sat out last week's round of league fixtures due to their Irish Junior Cup commitment, McCarter knows the points are every bit as important for Derry as they are for Carrick.

"We need the win as much as they do," he agreed, "We have won 50% of our league games and we have to win this if we want to stay in touch with the top teams. Being brutally honest about it this will be a game we are expected to win and people will be thinking we should win.

"If we want to be a top team we have to be able to go and win these sorts of games but that will come down to our attitude and performance on the day."

After last week's dramatic 31-20 cup victory over Connemara, the Green and Black have been drawn at home to fellow Championship One team Ballyclare in the quarter finals which will take place on November 18th.

"Yeah, it should be a good game," added McCarter, "At this stage of a competition like the Irish Junior Cup, all the teams are very good. You are playing the top teams from each of the four provinces so you're not going to get an easy game no matter who you draw. The best you can hope for is a home draw and we have that so I'm happy with that.

"We know a bit about Ballyclare and we have played really well against them so that should given us confidence but that tie is still a few weeks down the line and we have other games we need to concentrate on before then, starting with Carrick on Saturday."