Rare clean sheet a priority for Derry insists Ben Doherty
Derry City have kept just two clean sheets in their last 13 league games
Ben Doherty agrees keeping a clean-sheet is a major priority for Derry City ahead of Saturday’s clash at Sligo Rovers.
The Brandywell men have only managed to have one shut-out in their opening five games and the 27-year-old insisted he felt the back-five system, which City employed against Galway United last week, meant they were more solid at the back.
Doherty, who held his hands up for Moses Dyer’s goal for Galway United last week, feels the new system and manager Tiernan Lynch’s ideas is something which the whole squad is getting to know.
“Getting a clean-sheet would be big for us,” he insisted. ”Against Galway we played with a back five and my own personal error probably cost us the goal, but I thought other than that we were reasonably solid.
“It’s the first time we played with a back five, again that’s another learning thing for us, but what we’ll do at Sligo in terms of formation I don’t know, but if we do go with a back five we know how to after playing the Galway game. But I felt with the back five against Galway we looked a lot more solid.”
The talented left back knows Saturday’s encounter at the Sligo Showgrounds is going to be a tough one.
“People will look at the league table, but look and I’ve heard Tiernan on about it, this isn’t a quick fix,” he explained. “And next week we’re not going to turn into Barcelona and start popping teams off the pitch, it’s a working process.
“It’s about getting that bit better every week and I felt against Galway we definitely we showed that and we start on Monday with a full week’s training to prepare for Sligo. We’ll go down there and we’ll try to get a bit better again and who knows, hopefully we come away with the three points.
“You know what you’re getting with Sligo, we’ve known that over the last few years down there, but we’ve probably been guilty of going down there and playing in front of them or maybe getting in front and then getting sucker punched.
“Look, it’s a learning curve, but listen, the past is the past as well. We’ve a new manager in, with a new system and Sligo have signed a good few new players as well, so it’s two newest teams facing each other and we’ll see what happens on Saturday.”
A major aspect in the early stages of the second half against John Caulfield’s Tribesmen saw both Adam O’Reilly and Sadou Diallo having efforts from outside the box, in fact, the latter’s strike resulted in City’s penalty, which Michael Duffy hammered home to earn them a deserved point last Friday night and the ex-Institute man feels the players on the pitch need to assess the game.
“Look it’s not something we’ve worked on, but it’s whatever way the game dictates and as players we have to recognise that and have better game management. We did that and because of it we got a penalty and we got a point,” Doherty stated. “At times it’s like a game of chess out there, so as a group of players we have to see that, as the game is happening.”
“The Brandywell is not an easy place to come for other teams, we know about going to other grounds in the league and you set up differently. We’ve definitely noticed teams come here and set-up a wee bit different,” he confirmed.
“To be fair you know what you’re getting with Galway, they’ll sit in and they’ll make it not nice for you and they’re happy with us playing out in front of them, but as I said we were a bit more bravery, took a few more shots and asked a wee bit more questions of them. Maybe it’s something that’s going to have to happen from now. Whenever we recognise the game is going to go that way, we have to change it up and have a bit of a Plan B.”