Derry City are on their travels this Friday with a trip to Head in the Game Park next up for Ruaidhri Higgins’ side (KO 7.45).
And as his squad went through their final preparations for Drogheda, the City manager confirmed that Patrick McEleney has taken over as club captain following the departure of Eoin Toal.
“Patrick is the natural choice and I had no hesitation in offering him the armband” he said.
“He’s a real leader, on the pitch and off, and he will bring out the very best in the players around him.”
“He’s a winner and he’s hungry for more success. I know how much that would mean to him at his hometown club.”
Despite their position in the table, the Derry boss insists they need to be very wary of Kevin Doherty’s side this weekend.
“Look at their record against the top teams in the table and you’ll see a win and a draw against Shamrock Rovers and two wins over Dundalk” he said.
“Dundalk have only lost three times in the league this season and two of them were against Drogheda, so it shows what they are capable of.”
To their credit, the visitors are on a decent run themselves- unbeaten in their last seven and unfortunate not to have taken maximum points against the top two in their last couple of games.
On the plus side for the Candystripes they will be playing with fairly close to a full deck on Friday night- only long term absentee Ciaron Harkin out of the reckoning for selection.
And with Shamrock Rovers hosting Dundalk on Sunday, a win here would certainly keep the pot boiling for the Foylesiders.
