Derry City vs Dinamo Minsk Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

The chances of Derry City returning to Europe next season look slim, as they’ve fallen to fifth in the Irish Premier Division. Their league ambitions are on hold this week, as they look to make it out of the first qualifying round in the Europa League. It’s been a while since they had a European run to really excite fans at the Brandywell, but could this week’s clash with Belarus side Dinamo Minsk be the perfect opportunity for the Candystripes to kick off a run in Europe’s second tier competition?

The visitors are pushing for the title in their domestic division, as they look to shake the reign of BATE in the Belarus Premier League. However, the visitors are also out to put in a strong performance, as they’re favourites to make it through this tie and in to the second round of the Europa League qualifiers. They were last in the group stage of the Europa League back in 2015, after back to back third round exits. Little about them suggests that they could be about to exit the competition at the first hurdle.

The Belarus side will be hoping their recent strong experience in Europe can help them to pull off a strong result this week, to make next weeks’ second leg easier. Judging by Derry’s recent European form, this shouldn’t be much of a challenge for the visitors. Since beating Scottish side Gretna 5-1 in the UEFA Cup back in 2006, Derry have managed three European wins in 15 attempts, the most recent of which came back in 2014, as they smashed Aberystwyth.

That 9-0 victory four years ago won’t scare Minsk, but the fact that Derry lost 6-1 on aggregate in the next round to Belarus side Shakhtyor is likely to get their interest, given that Dinamo sit five points clear of them domestically. Derry have lost their last four European ties by an aggregate of 16-3, and things aren’t likely to get better for them here. The good news, if there’s any, is that Dinamo have seen under 2.5 goals in every away game bar one this season.

However, that’s only likely to mean that the visitors win by a smaller scoreline. Not only have Derry lost six of their last eight in the Europa League, but they’ve lost three of their last five home league games. Dinamo have won all but one of their away trips, and they’ve picked up three straight victories. That has us backing them to claim a win in this visit, while we’re going with a 1-0 victory for the low scoring, well drilled visitors.