Ruaidhri Higgins believes that Derry City have laid the foundations for another historic European night for the club as they entertain Tobol Kostanay at Tallaght Stadium on Thursday night (Live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).
The Candystripes were narrowly beaten in the first leg, away in Kazakhstan last week, however, the Derry manager is confident that his side can overcome that one-goal deficit to advance to the next round of the Europa Conference League.
City started slowly in last week's 1-0 defeat to Tobol in a game that was played on a pitch that hampered both sides from playing decent football, however, Higgins’ charges grew into the contest and had plenty of opportunities throughout an evenly matched encounter.
The Brandywell outfit were ultimately undone by a wondergoal from Tobol defender Roman Arsankulov midway through the second half, which leaves the tie with all to play for in the second leg.
Derry will look to seize an advantage, knowing the journey that their opponents have to negotiate from one side of Europe to the other, and while the Candystripes are playing at home, they have to also travel, albeit to Dublin, due to the limitations of their own ground.
But the playing surface and size of the pitch at Tallaght Stadium will arguably help and not hamper the Derry cause, as it will suit the brand of free-flowing, attack-minded football that Higgins has instilled into his team.
"It’s something to really get excited about," said Higgins, regarding the return leg, speaking at a pre-match press conference.
"I think we’ve given ourselves a real platform to go and try to progress and that is what we wanted coming home.
"We enjoy going there (Tallaght). It’s a big pitch, lovely, the players really love going there and playing their football. We’ve got players who can hopefully make the most of it, and it’s something to look forward to as we are playing well, so why not go and get ourselves through to the next round."
Higgins said there were no surprises in the first encounter with Tobol as they played with the quality and structure that was anticipated, and he is confident that there are similar levels within his own squad.
"High pressing, aggressive, play on front foot, with the front three really talented footballers who have a specific way of playing," said Higgins, offering his thoughts on Tobol’s first leg performance.
"By and large we nullified a lot of the threats, and stuck to our own principals and after around 15 minutes or so settled into our rhythm, I thought it was a good away performance."
Derry will need to score to keep the tie alive, however, they will benefit from the now defunct away goals rule, which would have favoured Tobol in similar circumstances.
And Higgins is not too concerned about pressing the panic button too early in the tie as he expects his side to make the breakthrough at some stage in proceedings.
"There is a huge change, from a psychological perspective on how you can approach matches," said Higgins, regarding the old away goals rule. "It’s a completely different dynamic.
"So it’s not overly important to score early, as long as we score.
"We certainly have the players, we’ve seen that in recent times, cutting edge players who are in good form and that gives us a real chance."
City are competing on three fronts this season, while enjoying a decent spell of form, as they remain in the hunt for league and FAI Cup honours to complement the extended Europa run.
Higgins, of course, was happy to throw out the clichéd line of "the next game being the most important one", but stressed that the team bond within the squad is extremely strong at the moment.
And he placed great praise on creative midfielder Patrick McEleney, who is in line to make his 50th European appearance, should he feature at Tallaght Stadium.
McEleney has been nursing an injury this season and has been used as an impact player, while the manager confirmed that Cameron Dummigan is also "carrying a knock".
"He’s had an amazing career and I’ve been through it all with him," said Higgins, who played with, coached, and now managed McEleney over the course of his League of Ireland career.
"And over the last 15-20 years, he is among the top echelon of players who played in the League of Ireland.
"The impact that he has had with this team on and off the pitch," continued Higgins.
"People don’t see what he does in the dressing room, behind the scenes, the conversations he has had with me, and his appetite for winning.
"There is a real bond in the dressing room at the moment."
Watch Derry City v Tobol Kastanay in Europa Conference League third round qualifying on Thursday at 7.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player and follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app
