Derry City manager Ruaidhrí Higgins conceded he was glad that he went against his principles as his side returned to winning ways against St Patrick’s Athletic at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium on Monday night.
Higgins was delighted that his plan of putting striking duo Daniel Mullen and Pat Hoban upfront together worked, as the Scotsman netted a brace and the ex-Dundalk front man also got on the score-sheet.
“Listen it wasn’t a pretty performance at all and to be honest I didn’t care that it wasn’t a pretty performance,” he insisted.
“We needed to win the game and we needed to find a way to win the game and we did that.
“We gave up a wee bit of possession tonight, which is possibly against my principles but we just needed to be more compact, give up possession and try to break on them a bit, and I thought we were a threat on the break and it was all about getting a way to win the game, so I’m happy.
“Yes it’s probably not exactly how I would love my team to play, but for tonight we’ll take it.”
The Limavady man felt his strike force would thrive off balls coming into the penalty box and he was delighted with how all three goals against the Saints were taken.
“Listen it’s a good night and winning the game was the only thing that mattered,” he added.
“I thought with Pat and Danny, who are good at attacking deliveries into the box, they would score goals from getting balls in from wide areas and that’s what happened.
“Our first goal came from an outstanding delivery from Ben Doherty and it was a great finish from Danny and he was also in a great position in the box and then Mark Connolly produces a bit of Mickey Duffy skill out the left for our second goal, which Pat puts it away and our third goal came from a great delivery from Will (Patching) and great header from Danny, so I was delighted with all three goals.”
Higgins conceded that his squad were hurting following Friday evening’s loss to champions Shamrock Rovers and he hopes that the win over Jon Daly’s men will be the start of something.
“The one thing that I really noticed in the dressing room after the game on Friday was the pain in the people’s eyes,” he explained.
“There was real hurt, genuine hurt and the boys stuck together over the weekend and we’ve got a big three points and we need to try and back it up now on Friday at Waterford.
“We want to win everything and we understand that the consistency levels need to improve and hopefully tonight’s win is a start of trying to get some more points on the board than what we’ve done in recent times.”
