Collins blasts Oriel Park as the “worst pitch in the world” ahead of Derry’s visit to Dundalk

Derry City boss Roddy Collins has fanned the flames ahead of his side’s visit to face Dundalk tonight by branding the surface at Oriel Park as the “worst pitch in the world.”

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, the former Lilywhites player said he expects a “war of attrition” tonight with the game likely to be decided in the closing stages as the Candystripes look to build on their first win of the season against Sligo Rovers on Friday.

“The team that comes out on top tonight will have been the team who have recovered most and didn’t pick up any injuries from Friday night’s games and we had a far tougher game than them obviously, as they won 4-1,” he admitted.

“But it’s going to be a war of attrition for the first hour and the side who are conditioned properly and can sustain things after the war of attrition will, in my opinion, come out on top.

“There won’t be a lot of great football played in that hour. I watched them against Shamrock Rovers in the Setanta Cup and I don’t think there will be a bound of attractive football in that 60 minutes, but then we’ll see who can come out on top after that.”

Collins also criticised the surface at Oriel Park, but said he wouldn’t be using that as a excuse if they don’t get anything from the game.

“It’s the worst pitch in the world, not even in Ireland, but the world, but we won’t be even mentioning it because at the end of the day we are going to have to play on it.

“Look, at the end of the day we know what we have to do, we aren’t conceding a lot of goals. We have conceded from a few set-pieces so we are really, really tight at the back.

“I said before Friday night’s game if we could get four points from our next two games it would be brilliant, if we got six it would be absolute tops, so if we come home with one I wouldn’t be unhappy.”

Derry have doubts over Roddy Collins Jr (dead leg) and central defender David Elebert (groin) but should have Ryan McBride, Patrick McEleney and Barry Molloy all available for selection.

John Mountney and Darren Meenan are slight doubts for Dundalk, who will be looking to build on their impressive 4-1 victory over St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday.

Kick-off tonight is at 7.45pm.

Late Mulvenna strike sinks Derry

Tiarnan Mulvenna hit a 90^th minute winner to give Dundalk a 1-0 win over Derry City at the Brandywell last night.

The substitute’s late strike fired the Lilywhites right back into the title race following last week’s 3-2 defeat away to Limerick.

Dundalk probably had the better of the chances in the first half but it was Peter Cherrie who denied the home side the lead on 20 minutes when he denied Rory Patterson in a one-on-one situation.

The game looked to be heading towards a stalemate until a fantastic through ball from Eoghan Osborne found Mulvenna and with virtually his first touch he made no mistake in firing low past the outrushing Gerard Doherty.

Derry City: Doherty, Madden, Greacen, McBride, S McEleney; Deery (Rafter 39), Molloy, B McNamee; P McEleney (Kavanagh 30), Patterson, Duffy.

Dundalk: Cherrie, Boyle, Meehan (Mulvenna 89), Massey, Osborne; Dillon, Shields (McDonnell 46), Sullivan, Towell, Byrne, Hoban (Faherty 80).

Referee: Rob Rogers (Dublin).