New North Stand, new chapter for Derry City

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

Tiernan Lynch is welcoming the opening of the new North Stand at the Brandywell tomorrow night, but insists it is now time for the players to get the fans going rather than the other way around.

While the Candystripes took four points from two difficult away games at Sligo Rover and Shamrock Rovers, they remain in seventh place in the Premier Division, with just two wins in seven. The team are also struggling for goals, scoring just five times, and are tied as the lowest scorers in the division alongside Rovers and Bohemians.

The spectacular new £2million North Stand will open for the first time tomorrow night, an official test event which will see 850 fans participate. That number will rise incrementally until the stand becomes fully operational, eventually leading to an official capacity of 6,300, up from 3,700.

"We're looking forward to getting home again and looking forward to the opening of the new stand with a bigger crowd that's going to be even noisier than they've been in the previous couple of weeks, and we hope we can build on that," Lynch said.

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"When you're on that pitch as a player and the crowd are getting behind you and dragging you along, I think they've done that up to now. But we can't ask any more of them. It's our turn now to do our bit and make sure we create the atmosphere and we give the fans one, something to shout about and two, a team to be proud of, and hopefully we can do that on Friday night."

City's search for goals - just one from open play in seven games so far - is not helped by the recent red card to Danny Mullen at Tallaght, with the striker now serving a one-game suspension. With Pat Hoban also doubtful due to illness, Lynch has fewer options in attack.

"I remember a couple of weeks ago people were asking what the need for four strikers was," he said. "It's a long season. It's a marathon not a sprint and somewhere along the line you're going to need to tap into pretty much your whole squad.

At this minute in time the forward line is getting tapped into and I think it's a great opportunity for young Sean Patton to come in and try and make his mark. I think he has the talent and ability. It's now up to him to go and take his chance."

City will be looking for only their second win at home this season against a Cork City side which have found wins hard to come by also. Tim Clancy's side have also proven difficult to beat however, drawing four of their seven games.

"They're a solid team, they're chopping and changing formation, between a back four and a back five," Lynch continued. "They are a team who are also dangerous on the counter attack and they are a team, from the results you can see, who stay in games. They are a team who are hard to shake off and they are a team with goals because they have got good players. We understand it's going to be a difficult game but we want to concentrate on what we feel we can do.

There has been noticeable improvement in recent games, particularly defensively, having not conceded in 235 minutes of football.

But Lynch knows that his players can get even better.

"The boys are working really hard every day, we're trying to implement and get better at the things that our game model is trying to bring out," he stated.

"We've stopped conceding stupid goals and I think we can build on that. What we now need to do is start scoring goals at the other end. I felt against Rovers on Friday night, again another refereeing decision which probably went against us and probably had a big impact on the outcome of the game.

"Now we have to start seeing a wee bit more of the talent we have, the free-flowing football that we want to play and the exciting football that we want to play, which will get our fans off the pitch and getting a team the fans can be proud of.

"I'm not going to stand and tell lies, I still think we're a million miles away from where we want to be but I think as every day passes you can see little signs. They're becoming a very close bunch, a really good bunch of boys and they keep working really hard. If you get that commitment and drive, desire and passion we got on Friday night, with the ability that's in our team it will always shine through."