Patrick McEleney is facing yet another spell on the sidelines after suffering a recurrence of his ongoing Achillies issue.
The injury-hit Derry City star cut an emotional figure as he was helped off the Richmond Park pitch in yesterday’s crushing 4-1 defeat to St Pat’s.
McEleney, 30, had been to London to see a specialist in an effort to get to the bottom of the problem.
READ MORE: St Pats 4-1 Derry City: Magnificent Saints boost title credentials
And he felt he was on the right track after returning to the side in the last three games against Sligo Rovers, Shelbourne and St Pat’s.
But he triggered the issue again in yesterday’s defeat and Derry boss Ruaidhri Higgings admits it is a hammer blow.
Higgins said: “He’s had an ongoing Achilles problem and we’ve been working away at it to try and get it fixed.
“He felt ok coming into the game but there’s an issue there that we need to get right because it’s one step forward, two steps back for him.
“He’s so committed to the club, and wanting to bring success to the club and it hurts him.
“It should hurt everybody but him in particular, he was a season ticket holder at Derry as a kid, went home and away to a lot of matches.
“This club means the world to him and there’s devastation he can’t contribute to the team.”
Higgins continued: “It’s not easy, especially for talented players like them as they want to have an impact on the club.
“When they’re on the sidelines it’s difficult to do that. We’ll wait and see how it settles and what the next steps are. We’re definitely a better team when he’s around.”
Higgins has not ruled out strengthening his Candystripes squad in the summer transfer window - but not just for the sake of it.
“We need to make sure it’s the right one,” he said. “It can't just be ‘someone’s available, aye we’ll take him’ – we’ll need to make sure it’s the right one, what do we need?
“We’ve a clear idea of what we need but there’s a bit of work to do between now and the window opening.
“There’s three league games, we need to focus on them, try and get as many points as we can, dig in and forget about winning this or winning that.
“We need to try and focus on winning the next game because performances like that against St Pat’s won’t cut mustard.”
Derry have picked up just one point from nine and Higgins added: “We’ve shown a bit of a soft centre in recent weeks that we haven’t had in the last couple of years.
“It’s something we all have to fix, the players and the staff. We were overplaying in the wrong areas and got punished for our errors. It was an extremely disappointing night.
“We can’t sweep things under the carpet - we have to address them. I have to accept responsibility. Players have to accept responsibility.
“There’s a bit of adversity now so do we lie down and get our bellies tickled or do we stand up and fight back? I hope it’s the latter.”
READ NEXT:
Brendan Rodgers and Jesse Marsch in Celtic frame to replace Ange Postecoglou
McGregor most influential Irish athlete on IG as he earns 58 times more than KT
Pro boxer Lee Reeves' quest to become world champion in memory of his mum
Rory McIlroy suffers disappointing final round as Viktor Hovland wins Memorial Tournament
Cora Staunton highlights "worry for Mayo going forward" after narrow win over Louth
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
