Derry's Will Patching ruled out for visit of Waterford

Derry City vs. Waterford   |   Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium   |   Friday, 7:45pm

Will Patching will miss tomorrow night’s clash with Waterford at the Brandywell as Derry City’s central midfield problems continue to grow.

The City midfielder was named in the starting eleven at Shamrock Rovers on Monday night, but suffered a thigh injury in the warm-up and had to be replaced by Jordan McEneff. That thigh issue will keep him out of tomorrow’s game also, meaning Patching joins Sado Diallo and Cameron Dummigan as the central midfielders unavailable for Higgins, who is retaining an outside hope that his captain Patrick McEleney will be able for selection.

“Will Patching pulled up with a minor thigh issue in the warm-up so he won’t be available this weekend but it won’t be too long at all,” he explained. “Patrick will be touch and go this weekend; we haven’t ruled him in or out yet, so we’ll see how the week develops, but we need to think of the bigger picture too.”

Higgins is adamant however that he will not rush the return of Ciarin Harkin, who played his first 30 minutes of football in two years in the club’s U20 game against Drogheda at the Brandywell last Saturday.

“When you've missed two years, you have to think of the player as well,” he said. “We have to do right by him because there's not a chance we could rush him and then something happened to him again. You'd never forgive yourself. You could ruin the lad's career so it's really, really important regardless of the issues we have in that part of the pitch.

“We won't do that, it's not fair on him. It might help me but it's definitely not fair on him. To spend two years watching his teammates on the sideline, we're not prepared to take any risks with that.

“He's so, so important. He represents the values of this club and he's got a real deep connection with the club and it's really important to have them players around. You can see him getting sharper week by week and hopefully with a few more practice games under his belt he'll be ready to go.”

Waterford come to the Brandywell tomorrow night just one Premier Division place behind Derry City in third with seven points from their opening four games. That strong start to life back in the top flight is no surprise to Higgins.

“It's not a surprise to me,” he reiterated. “When you've got the attacking players that they have and individuals right throughout the team who are really good players, it hasn't been a surprise to me that they've picked up the points that they have.

BACK AT THE BRANDYWELL… Alan Reynolds will return to the Brandywell with Waterford on Friday night. (Photo: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE)

“They're outstanding attacking players and it's a lazy view at times when promoted teams come up that people think they're going to be fighting but it's not the case.

"The two clubs that have come up this year, we've seen already the value they'll bring to the league and they'll be a match for anyone on their day. You look at the front three of Asamoah, Parsons and Amond they've been a real, real handful and we'll have to be prepared for that.”

REYNOLDS RETURN

Another interesting subplot of Waterford’s visit is the return of Alan Reynolds to the Brandywell. Reynolds served as Higgins’ number two for just under 18 months, and he was strongly linked with a return to the club in the close season.

“Keith Long as well,” Higgins stated. “I think between the pair of them they have real quality and real experience of this league and we know that they'll come here with a plan. They'll have something up their sleeve and it's up to us to counteract that and turn it in our favour.

“They'll want to think ahead of the game and I want to think ahead of the game so of course they know how we work but it should be a very, very interesting game. It's not about the sideline, it's about the players that are on the pitch and both sets of players have got real talent on the pitch so I think it'll be a really, really good game.”

Derry City have come from behind in the last two games to claim four points, an attribute that Higgins hopes his team carry throughout the entire season.

“To come from a goal behind in both games, it basically tells you what we have in the dressing room and the personalities and characters we have in the dressing room,” he said.

“We want it to be a feature of this team that when we do go behind, we react positively and we can still win matches and we need that to happen. We need to just try and carry on this wee bit of momentum that we have.”