SSE Airtricity League Premier Division: Waterford v Derry City (tonight, 7.45pm)
Assistant manager Paul Hegarty believes Derry City have begun to look a real a threat in the final third in recent weeks.
In the early part of the season, the Brandywell men were struggling to create opportunities, but Hegarty feels it’s a different story now, as they prepare for tonight’s fixture at Waterford.
Striking pair of Pat Hoban and Daniel Mullen have been in fantastic form in the opening 12 games, with Hoban netting eight goals and Mullen scoring five, but Hegarty has praised the whole team for creating more chances.
“To be fair, the two are two different types of players,” he stated.
“Pat, as we know, has scored goals for years and he probably always will score goals. Danny is a different type of player. He’s technically a very good footballer. He’s a very, very clever player. He picks up spaces and I think there’s a lot more in him yet.
“When I looked at him even before I came on, I thought he was an absolutely fantastic footballer. I know at the time boys would probably say he’s not scoring goals and everything else, and neither he was. But when you see somebody that’s really, really good, you know that there’s goals there.
“Now when you watch him in training and the way he conducts himself around the place, it’s been absolutely fantastic since I’ve come on here.
“But not just Pat and Danny are scoring, you have Will Patching and Adam O’Reilly chipping in with goals there and that as well and Mickey Duffy. We’ve goals on the team and we just keep that wee bit of belief in us.
“We will get into our stride as it goes on. We’ve had a lot of chopping and changing so, look, it is what it is but we know what we have and we know what we’re trying to get to so we’ll see how it pans out.”
The Donegal man also knows that the season is only really starting to get motoring and he wants the City dressing room to stay focused on the task ahead.
“You can’t get too up or down. The game’s are coming fairly fast now and that’s great,” he said.
“You’ve got no time to lick your wounds now, you’ve just gotta get up and get on with it.
“To be fair to that group of players, they’re very, very good at that. They’re strong mentally in that and they keep bouncing back.”
The Brandywell men, who travelled to Waterford yesterday, have a number of injury concerns going into the game with Duffy struggling with a hip injury, while Patrick McEleney and Jordan McEneff both look set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.