'We're confident that change is coming' - Derry's Michael Duffy

Sligo Rovers vs. Derry City  |  Sligo Showgrounds  |  Saturday, 7:45pm

Michael Duffy insists he is not worried by Derry City’s start to the season, as he has complete faith that things will begin to turn back in the right direction soon.

With just one win in five league games so far, the Candystripes are bottom of the Premier Division for the first time in four years, with difficult away trips coming up against Sligo Rovers and Shamrock Rovers either side of the first international break of the season.

Very little has gone to plan as yet, but Duffy, arguably the one positive for City so far with three goals, believes that an improvement in performances and results will come soon.

“I get that it’s very tough for the fans seeing the results, and seeing where we are in the table, but they just need to stick with us and stick with the plan and just realise that there have been a lot of changes this year, throughout the team and the backroom staff, with everything really,” he said.

“It does take a while. I think they can see in a few of the performances, what we’re trying to do. I know it’s only been a few games where we’ve played well and shown that, but we’re not worried because we know it’s coming and we know were getting better and building on it every week. Just stick with us. The fans have been brilliant, especially at home this year. The atmosphere has been amazing in the Brandywell but just hopefully we can turn that around for them now in the next few weeks.”

Duffy points to the inconsistent form of other so-called big teams in the Premier Division and the fact that Drogheda United re currently top as evidence that nothing is settled or decided in the first few months of any season.

“It’s very early days and you can see by where other teams are in the league at the minute,” he explained. “Everyone is dropping points at the minute and everyone is beating each other. The first round of fixtures is always hard to call but we obviously don’t want to be down there too long.

“We know that we need to start picking up wins and get three points and start making our way up the table, but at the minute, the way we’re just building, there are a lot of new things, and we’re just trying to take the positives from the game. We know that we have been gradually getting better and trying to find our best way of playing.”

Sligo Rovers are facing their own struggles, with a similar record of one win in five heading into Saturday’s game, but that will be of no significance come kick-off, with John Russell’s side something of a bogey cub for Derry City. In fact, the Candystripes have taken just two points from their last six visits to the Showgrounds.

“I have been here for the past few years and I know we don’t have a great record down there,” Duffy acknowledged. “There have been a few games where we’ve actually played alright down there, but we just haven’t come away with the result. It’s going to be the same again. It’s going to be very tough.

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“You saw that they beat Rovers two weeks ago there so at home Sligo can beat anyone on their day. It’s going to be a very tough match, but we just need to focus on ourselves. We need to be at it from the first whistle, because if you’re not, and you step off it in any way in this league, you get found out and you end up dropping points.”

A win this weekend would provide not jus relief but a much-needed confidence boost to the supporters and the players heading into the international break and then the game at Tallaght.

“It would and that’s our goal,” Duffy added. “All we’re thinking of now going into this game is coming back up the road with three points. We’ve just been working hard all week on how we’re going to do that. We’re all being positive after how we played on Friday. We know how tough it’s going to be down there, but we’re going down there with confidence and hopefully we can pick up the three points and kick on from there then.”