Sligo Rovers take on Derry City tonight at The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium at 7.45pm.

The game is Live on RTE 2 television with commentary provided on Ocean FM.

The hosts, who finished as runners up in 2022 have made a positive start to the new campaign and remain unbeaten so far with three wins and two draws in their opening five games.

Rovers come into the game on the back of two home games against St. Patrick’s Athletic and Cork City respectively, winning the game against the Dublin side and drawing 2-2 last Saturday night against the Rebels.

Manager John Russell reflects on the games last week and says he was happy with his side’s overall performance over the two fixtures:

‘’I was really happy with the character of the players last weekend.

‘’To come back from two goals down shows the resilience and the quality we have at the club.

‘’We know the areas we need to improve on and the players are working extremely hard in training’’.

Russell is well aware of the threat Derry City cause and is looking forward to the game:

‘’Derry have started the season well and are still unbeaten so we expect this to be a tough test.

‘’They have a good home record but it’s important we go there and try to impose ourselves on the game and utilise our strengths’’.

In team news, Rovers should have a fully fit squad to chose from apart from long term absentees Garry Buckley, Mark Byrne and Gary Boylan. Buckley is on course to be the first of the three injured players to return with the defender expected to be back sometime around the mid-season break.

John Mahon returns to the squad having served his one-match suspension following a sending off against St. Patrick’s Athletic.