MANAGER Ruaidhrí Higgins insists the Premier Division title is 'Shamrock Rovers' to lose', even after Derry City closed the gap on the leaders to just four points.
The Brandywell men had a comfortable 3-0 victory over bottom side UCD on Friday night, while the champions suffered a surprise 1-0 loss at managerless Bohemians, but Higgins is adamant Stephen Bradley's side are still in pole position.
"It's Shamrock Rovers to lose," insisted the Limavady man.
"They're four points clear with a game in hand. They've been there and done it so it's theirs to lose.
"We'll just try and win every game we play and see where it takes us. We're not getting carried away.
"It's been a good week, we're happy with the direction we're going in and the players are full of confidence. We just want to win our next game and see where it takes us."
The victory over the Students was City's third win on the bounce and Higgins was pleased that his side also kept their third clean sheet in a row, however he wasn't happy with their first half display on Friday night and admitted some harsh words were said at half-time.
"We needed to be more ruthless in our approach once we went 1-0 up but in the second half we were a lot, lot better. I'm more happy with the second half performance," he explained.
"I thought after we went 1-0 up we got a bit sloppy with our passing which is unlike us but I also have to be mindful that it was our third game in seven days and that can happen.
"Second half was much better, much more like us. We created chances and that's our third clean sheet in a week so it's been a good week for us.
"Half-time was a bit heated. We spilled our guts out, players included and we all demanded more from ourselves. It was the reaction we wanted in the second half."
The Derry boss was also thrilled that Michael Duffy scored his first goal of the season and admitted his link-up play with captain Patrick McEleney was a joy to watch at times.
"It was an outstanding pass by Patrick for Michael's goal and it was great for him to get his first goal back at his club and it's brilliant to see him get off the mark," he added.
"Patrick and Michael never leave each other alone on and off the pitch so they should know each other inside out.
"(Sadou) Diallo also got another goal and he can definitely add that to his game, as he has got that quality and it was great that Graydo (Ryan Graydon) scored again. He has now scored three already and all big goals.
"He scored the winner at Shelbourne in the 92nd minute, the equaliser at Finn Park to get us back into the game with 10 minutes to go and then tonight to put us 1-0 up.
"He knows it's an area that he needs to improve on and I think if he adds that then we've got a really good player on our hands."
