Derry City (0) v Skonto Riga (0):SPECULATION THAT Derry City's Europa League opponents Skonto FC would field minus four players who had been refused visas by the British Embassy has baffled their English manager Paul Ashworth ahead of tonight's trip to the Brandywell.

“I’ve no idea where this story has come from,” he said yesterday, insisting the squad which faced Derry in Riga last Thursday night was available to face Stephen Kenny’s men this evening. “We’ve travelled with the same squad and I am not aware of any problems in relation to visas,” he insisted.

The four players concerned all played last week in the first leg – Brazilian striker Carvalho Nathan Junior and David Gamezardashvili (a Georgian) started the game while Russian duo Andrey Agafonov and Rouslan Mingazov were second-half substitutes.

Kenny refused to pay any attention to the speculation: “My only concern is with my own team,” he said. “We have a few injury problems with Steven Gray (ankle) joining Liam Kearney (broken leg) and Mark McChrystal (fractured cheekbone), in the treatment room. All three will miss out while James McClean has a virus and is extremely doubtful.”

Kenny has Clive Delaney back from suspension having missed Sunday’s match against Bohemians while Kevin Deery, who did not travel to Riga due to a calf problem, got through the Bohemians match without difficulty and has been added to the squad.

Last Thursday night’s goal-scorer Tam McManus has been declared fit to play in a match Kenny believes is finely balanced.

“We could have won that game but, then again, we could also have lost it so I believe the tie remains finely balanced so it’s important we must be at our best if we are to win through to the next round.”