Major questions regarding Derry City’s staying ability regarding a title race have been raised in recent days as the Candystripes were tamely beaten 1-0 by Shamrock Rovers on Monday night, a result that sees the Hoops now sitting seven points clear of the Candystripes.

That defeat means Derry City have picked up just one win from their last six matches with Ruahri Higgins’ side struggling to create in front of goal. City have now drawn a blank in four of their last six matches with pressure starting to mount at the Brandywell given the huge expectations surrounding the club this season.

Struggling to score goals is something Shelbourne very much have in common with Friday’s visitors with the Reds the league’s second-lowest scorers this season off the back of a narrow 1-0 defeat against St.Pat’s last time out. Given that game was on Friday, Shelbourne should come into the game the fresher of the two sides.

While Damien Duff’s team are among the league’s lowest scorers, they do hold the best defensive record with just 15 goals conceded in 20 games which makes a trip to Tolka Park a very tricky assignment for misfiring Derry City.

There has been just one goal scored across the two meetings between the sides this season, that goal coming in a 0-1 win for Derry City with the other meeting ending scoreless. There was an element of fortune to that Derry win though with Paddy Barrett being sent off in very harsh circumstances at a time when Shelbourne were still bang in the game.

The last six league meetings between these sides have been settled by a one-goal margin so they are usually extremely tight encounters and given Derry’s woes in front of goal recently combined with Shelbourne’s defensive excellence this season, I fancy Shels to get something at home here and heap further pressure on the underperforming Candystripes.