Derry City v KuPS

Derry City vs KuPS Preview

Northern Irish hosts, Derry City, take on Finnish club, KuPS, at their Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium on Thursday night in this 1st leg of their 2nd Qualifying Round tie in the UEFA Conference League with the home side looking to stretch their unbeaten run in all matches to six games.

A 1-1 draw with Shelbourne was followed up with a 2-1 home win against Sligo Rovers in the domestic Premier Division which set Derry City up nicely for their 1st Qualifying Round tie with Faroe Islands club, HB, whom they beat 1-0 on aggregate to take them through this next round of the competition.

In addition, Derry City also recorded a convincing 3-0 home win against 1st Division side Athlone Town in the domestic Irish FA Cup so the hosts will be in confident mood ahead of the visit from KuPS on Thursday night.

Results on home turf have also been encouraging for Ruadhri Higgins' side as they are unbeaten in their last eight home games, picking up six wins along the way.

KuPS by contrast have struggled in recent times as the Finnish visitors have suffered defeats to Mariehamn on penalties in the domestic Suomen Cup along with a loss at home to VPS in the domestic Veikkausliiga, while also being held to a 1-1 draw by Inter Turku in the domestic league.

KuPS join the UEFA Conference League at this 2nd Qualifying Round stage and the visitors will be hoping they can rekindle the sort of form which brought them 12 wins out of their preceding 14 matches overall in all competitions, on Thursday night.

Six of these 12 wins were also achieved away from home which underlines the potential threat from the Finnish visitors here at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium along with the additional threat of hitting the back of the net as well.

KuPS have scored at least once in 10 of their last 12 away games across all competitions and the visitors also possess more extensive experience at Conference League level as they've been involved in 14 ties so far in this competition, while also losing just twice in their previous seven ties on the road at this level as well.

Derry City v KuPS Verdict

Both Derry City and KuPS have produced solid results at home and away respectively so both teams stand a decent chance of hitting the back of the net in this 1st leg clash, especially as both teams will fancy their chances of progressing through to the next Qualifying Round of this competition.

Therefore, our main bet will be Both Teams To Score Yes @ 2.00

Other side bets worth considering:

Draw @ 3.30

Correct score: 1-1 @ 6.50