Champs are Derry close to the title now
RUAIDHRI HIGGINS reckons Shamrock Rovers already have one hand on the Premier Division title.
But the Derry City boss has warned that his players are ready to pounce on any slip-up by a Hoops side that also has European group stage football on its mind.
And he’d love to strike a psychological blow to the table-toppers on Sunday when the two sides meet at the Ryan McBride Brandywell in FAI Cup quarter-final action.
The Candystripes’ 1-0 win over Sligo Rovers on Tuesday saw them close the gap with the back-toback champions to just one point.
Rovers have two games in hand but they also have the distraction of a Europa Conference League campaign and tonight they are in Belgium to face KAA Gent.
Higgins said: “What Shamrock Rovers do, what will be will be. It’s completely in their hands.
Change
“They have one hand on it. Unless something drastic happens, that won’t change.
“But we just need to keep chipping away. We’ve won four league games on the spin and we are delighted, and we have had a lot of clean sheets as well. At this stage of the season it’s about winning matches.”
As for Rovers’ schedule, Higgins continued: “We’ve put a good run together and we’ve got it (the gap) back to a point.
“They’ve two games in hand, but you are right, they have a lot of fixtures.
“It’s not completely impossible that they slip up in the games, so we just have to… listen, if we don’t take care of our business, then everything else is irrelevant.
“So that’s what we’ll be doing, we’ll focus on ourselves and keep trying to pick up three points in every game we play.”
All Derry eyes are now on Sunday’s massive FAI Cup visit of the Hoops — and Higgins has called on the city to come out and back his side.