Ruaidhri Higgins admits team is 'not firing on all cylinders'

Ruaidhri Higgins admits his team are ‘not firing on all cylinders’ as he reflected on a scoreless draw against Shelbourne at the Brandywell.

The game between the two best defences in the Premier Division ended scoreless, but there was plenty of goalmouth action nonetheless, with both goalkeepers pulling off crucial saves, and both teams hitting the woodwork.

“It was possibly a fair outcome,” Higgins reflected. “In the first half they have hit the post and missed a penalty, while we’ve had one cleared off the line. I don’t know how it was cleared off the line, it was an unbelievable goal-line clearance.

“But we were fractured in the first half. There wasn’t a good balance about us or a good shape. They maybe shaded the first half, but I think in the second half we played with more intent and we shaded the second half without being brilliant. Ciaran Coll has had a good chance, Jamie McGonigle has had a good chance and Ben Doherty had had a good chance and the goalkeeper has made a few really good saves. I’m disappointed not to win the game, but over the piece, maybe a point is fair.”

Shelbourne played two up top from the start, a tactical move which Higgins admitted he was surprised with.  

“I was and they were a bit more aggressive than I thought,” he said. “We took a wee while to get used to it. Half time gave us a chance to sort a few things out and I felt our structure was better in the second half and we looked more potent. Without being outstanding, we definitely looked more of a threat and more cohesive. A point is not exactly what we wanted, but it’s a clean sheet and we’ll move on.”

The draw saw Derry City slip back to second place ahead of a trip to St. Patrick’s Athletic on Monday, but Higgins is not panicking.

“Shelbourne have the best defensive record in the league for a reason, but when you look at it, we’ve created four really good chances,” he continued.

“You just need that bit of devilment, if that’s what you want to call it, to go and put the ball in the back of the net and release the tension from around the place. We’ve got a clean sheet, that’s a positive, and we have Mark Connolly and Patrick McEleney coming back into the team, which are positives, but we would have liked to have taken one or two of those chances.”