Derry seek clean sheet

Keeping a clean sheet will be top of the priority list when Felix Healy's Derry City take on Maribor Branik at the Brandywell this evening. The City manager is hopeful that his team can beat the Slovenians in this first leg of the preliminary round of the Champions' League, but he is adamant that a goal conceded would be a major blow to their chances.

"It has become so much more important in recent years not to slip up at home in European competition because it gives opponents a real chance to put you under pressure in the return match," says Healy, who must cope with the absence of goalkeeper Tony O'Dowd (suspended) and James Keddy (thigh strain) for tonight's game.

Healy, who was very pleased with Derry's performance in the international club tournament in Dublin last week, can at least call on reserve goalkeeper Declan Devine who, after being doubtful due to a groin strain, has now been cleared to play. The Derry manager is likely to move regular fullback Sean Hargan to the left side of midfield to replace Keddy, with Kevin Brady slotting into the back four.

"Beyond that it will be pretty much the team that did so well in Dublin last week. Those performances did a great deal for everybody's confidence and we'll be hoping to reproduce that sort of form this evening," he says.

According to Healy, the tie is wide open, with both sides in with a strong chance of winning through to the next round, where Turkish champions Besiktas Istanbul await.

On the face of it, the draw would certainly appear to present Derry with a strong opportunity of making it past the first qualification hurdle of the competition. Maribor actually went one better than Derry in domestic competition last year by winning both league and cup.

Since then, however, the team, which is trained by Bojan Prasnikar, has lost a couple of key players, with central defender Ales Krijan joining Barnsley for their Premiership campaign and prolific goalscorer Amir Karic heading in the other direction, to Japanese outfit Gamba Osaka. In the absence of his two former stars, Prasnikar, who shares Healy's preference for a 4-4-2 formation, will look to Slovenian international goalkeeper Marko Simeunovic to keep the Derry attack at bay. His best chance of stealing a coveted goal would appear to rest with under-21 international striker Oskar Drabne.

The visitors are said, however, to have a strong central midfield, with Gregor Zidan and Damjan Gajsar expected to present some tough competition for City's Peter Hutton and Paul Heggarty in an area of the pitch that the northerners grew accustomed to dominating during last year's successful league campaign.

Bohemians, meanwhile, are still waiting to see whether Maurice O'Driscoll will recover sufficiently from a groin strain to play a part in this evening's UEFA Cup clash with Ferencvaros at Dalymount Park.

"There is still a slight doubt about him at this stage," admitted Turlough O'Connor last night. "But Donal Broughan is all right after getting treatment for a hamstring so overall we're reasonably happy."

O'Connor is definitely without suspended pair Brian Mooney and Paul Doolin as well as James Coll, who recently underwent a groin operation, for the game.

The problems of the Bohemians manager are minor compared to those of his opposite number, Tibor Nyliasi, who has been hit with a string of major problems in the build-up to the match.

The Hungarians were already without their captain, Elek Nyilas, who is suspended, but now it turns out that Otto Vincze, who returned to the club over the past couple of weeks following a spell with Sion in Switzerland, was not registered in time to play in the match.

A string of injuries to star players has also caused concern in the visiting party, with Ukrainian striker Igor Nichenko reported to be highly doubtful for this evening's encounter. Another question mark hangs over the Hungarians' best player, Romanian midfielder Vasile Miriuta, who has hit by a virus over the past couple of days.

Even with these difficulties, however, Nyliasi's team, which kicked off its new league campaign on Saturday with a 1-0 away win over Siosok, contains a handful of full internationals. The Hungarians should provide a stern test for Bohemians.