Ruaidhri Higgins returns to take charge of his Derry City side on Friday night as the Candystripes welcome Dundalk to the Brandywell (KO 7.45).
The City boss was full of praise for his players and staff, insisting they had been ‘a real credit to the club’ while he had been dealing with the recent family bereavement.
“They have done brilliantly- Alan Reynolds, Conor Loughrey- all the backroom team and of course the players deserve so much credit.
“Philip O’Doherty, Sean Barrett, the office staff and everyone behind the scenes have shown why this is the most unique and special club in Ireland.”
Two wins over the past week mean that City go into this game at the top of the table and despite a few key injuries, the gaffer put much of that down to the depth of his squad.
“We’ve had a few injuries, that’s no secret, but compared to even last year, we have been able to bring genuine quality into the team.
Dundalk will travel with a degree of confidence following back-to-back wins themselves, and the Limavady man suggested that there might be little between the teams again.
“They always seem to be tight games but we will be going into the match looking to put on a performance and trying to keep this wee run going.
“It’s only been four games so no-one is getting carried away.
“We don’t want to hide behind anything either though. We want to improve on last season and improving on that means a very real challenge to winning the title.
“We have the group of players here now to do that but we have to stay focused and try to build on a good start.
“Thankfully we have no fresh injuries but it’s unlikely we’ll add anyone to the panel that did so well across the last two matches.”
