Derry City boss Ruaidhri Higgins refusing to give up fight for league title

There was no change at the top of the SSE Airtricity Premier League after Friday's matches as 10 man Rovers eked out a 1-0 win over Shelbourne at Tallaght while the Candy Stripes were in rampant form in their 6-0 demolition of UCD.

The Candy Stripes' biggest win of the campaign, however, slashed the goal difference to just two and Higgins will be hoping his team can narrow the gap closely enough that it matters in the end.

Rovers don't play again until they host Drogheda on October 20th and Derry have the opportunity to ramp up the pressure by closing to within two points of the leaders with victory over the Boynesiders in Co. Louth next Friday night.

That's easier said than done but Higgins certainly isn't giving up the ghost as he reminded us that stranger things can happen in football.

"Listen, we're still in there," said the City supremo. "We've all seen how football works. Stranger things can happen and while we're still in there then you've got to keep believing, keep fighting and keep trying to win your matches."

Many pundits have written off Derry's chances of hauling in Rovers - a task made more difficult by the Hoops win against Shels with just four matches remaining.

Higgins isn't surprised that most pundits and punters alike have all but abandoned the idea of a late twist in the title race with Rovers 1/20 with some bookies to clinch four in a row prior to Friday's fixtures.

With one less game to go, those odds will have shortened further but Derry City's approach hasn't changed.

"While we're alive and kicking and while we're still there then you just never know but obviously we have work to do. We have to go to Drogheda next week and win."

Leading 1-0 at the break thanks to a stunning volley from Danny Mullen after five minutes, the message from Higgins to his players was to put the foot on the gas and once Will Patching's magical finish on 47 minutes nestled into the net, Derry smelled blood and went for the jugular.

"That was the message (at half-time), we wanted to get more goals and bring the goal difference closer. We've done that. It was really important. I think once we got the second our attention changed towards getting goals. The players attacked their goal at every opportunity and we could've got a couple more as well.

"Obviously the league table hasn't changed but as I said, we probably need maximum points now, there's no doubt about that. We have to go to Drogheda next week which has been a really difficult venue for everybody and we'll go there and try and pick up the three points.

In their four league meetings with UCD this term Derry have been ruthless, scoring 19 goals and conceding just the once. It was an emphatic message that their race hasn't been run just yet!

"It was extremely professional," he continued. "After the perfect start. What we've done well against UCD is we've scored early in nearly all the matches. That gave us a platform in the game and maybe released a wee bit of tension. We could've had one or two more in the first half but we were ruthless in the second half.

"I'm really complimentary of the players because of their attitude and professionalism and how they went about it."

The Derry players were encouraged to take their hurt and frustrations from last week's reversal against Sligo out on the UCD match and they delivered.

It was a subdued atmosphere at Brandywell in the first half as Derry struggled to break down a resolute UCD backline but it was a much different story in the second half with five different players getting on the goalscoring act.

"We scored after four minutes in the first half and two minutes into the second half so it was brilliant times to get the goals and two amazing finishes. "Danny Mullen's volley is brilliant and Patching's finish is class. He scored a brilliant goal against them a few weeks ago too, a lob. He's playing with loads of confidence and so are a lot of the players.

"Obviously we're still extremely disappointed with last week but I think that was quite an isolated performance given the form we've been in during recent months."

It was a match they were expected to win and simply had to win and Higgins was pleased with how they managed those expectations.

"Of course we were (expected to win)," he said. "We're at home to a team bottom of the league. It's actually not easy to break down 10 players just sitting behind the ball, it's not easy. I know people can get impatient and want more and more but you have to be patient.

"You have to try and drain the energy out of the opposition and we did that and took advantage of it in the second half. "For a few reasons I was happy with UCD's result last week. I knew it would give our players an edge going into the game as well that they got a point against Shamrock Rovers so we didn't take them lightly.

"I think you can see from our four results and performances against UCD we've treated them with the utmost respect and gone about our business really professionally. It was great to get the six goals tonight."READ MORE: Derry City run riot against UCD to keep the heat on Shamrock Rovers