City of Derry seeking third League win as Academy arrive at Judges Road
City of Derry will be seeking a third straight Championship Two victory of the season when Academy arrive at Judges Road on Saturday (kick-off 2.30pm).
An experimental Derry line-up suffered a first loss of the season in last week's 40-19 Junior Shield derby defeat against Strabane at Bradley Way, but Neil Beddow is expected to welcome back a host of experienced players as attention returns to league, a competition which the Derry Head Coach admits has always been Derry's primary focus.
"Our priority is and always has been the league this season so while disappointed, we have refocused straightaway for Academy coming to Judges Road this Saturday," explained the Derry Head Coach.
"Listen, it's ultimately about trying to get more points on the board and staying where we are at; towards the top of the table.
"The squad is looking quite healthy this week. There are a lot back in who weren't available last weekend against Strabane. Neil Burns, comes back in; David Lapsley is back for his first start after the cricket season ended; Ian Bratton is back, Mark Scott is back, so from a backline point of view that's really strong. It's probably the strongest we have been in the last 12 months."
The two clubs go into Saturday's game off the back of contrasting starts to their league campaigns, Derry sitting second on 10 points after two bonus point wins from two while Academy have lost twice, to Strabane and Carrick. Crucially though, the Mallusk club has picked up bonus points in both defeats against clubs considered among the pre-season title favourites.
"The ambition, as we said a few weeks ago when we were travelling to Letterkenny, is just to put another foot forward and get another result, this time against Academy," added Beddow.
"They've had two difficult results at the start of the season but they've had two difficult results against two difficult teams; teams I would expect to be at the upper end of the table in Strabane and Carrick.
"So we won't be not taking anybody lightly. We're expecting Academy to come down and try everything to get their season up and running. It is up to us to show we are a team to be feared this year as much as anybody else.
"The two results Academy have had, yes they have been losses but they have picked up losing bonus points in both which tells me they are a team to be massively respected.
"We got two good results against them last year but I know they've recruited a couple of overseas guys. Look, it is going to be a difficult fixture but I would like to think that with the team that we have available, we will be putting our best foot forward.
"I was actually really pleased with an awful lot of last Saturday, it felt like a real game of rugby for 60 odds minutes. After that hour the score was 21-19 with full commitment from both sides.
"I couldn't fault anybody. Then, as I said, just two or three errors came into play but things are moving in the right direction. Training numbers are good. Last season we weren’t able to field a Second XV on a regular basis but we’ve fielded a Seconds team for the last two weeks and we’ll be fielding one again this weekend so things are more positive, more progressive. We are taking steps forward.”