On Soccer:By late afternoon tomorrow we'll have learnt a good deal more about the character of Derry City football club and its components. Hoping at least for a score draw, they visit the Armenian side FC Pyunik at the Republican Stadium in Yerevan, a meeting with Shaktar Donetsk the prize.

Although Derry are still in the Champions League mix, the folks on Foyleside are not getting ahead of themselves.

The new manager, John Robertson, is still getting acquainted with his players, but during his brief spell in charge he has revamped how they approach their work, and they are showing signs of stirring from early-season slumbers.

Only three weeks into the job, the Scot has already made an impact. The club's trademark swaggering, sweeping moves had gone missing this season but are beginning to re-emerge. Not before time, for the Brandywell faithful are tired of languishing in mid-table.

The clinical rout of Sligo in Robertson's first game in charge afforded those fans a taste of what could be in the months ahead. Derry then dominated at home against Pyunik but failed to exploit a number of chances against a side desperate not to concede. Clearly the road ahead is winding - but it is negotiable.

Last Saturday's effort at Bohemians should have been rewarded with full points but the hosts dogged it out for an undeserved draw. Still, Robertson and his players built a head of steam; gumption and graft were evident in fine measure.

Those supporters who travelled in numbers revelled in precisely that fact.

Speaking to journalists after the game, the new boss and former Scotland international was surrounded by dozens of red-and-white jerseys, the fans hanging on his every word.

The articulate 42-year-old peppered his utterances with fighting words; obviously he was keenly aware of those straining ears not usually privy to the media shakedown.

Fickle as they are, fans are no mugs, and managers who trade in bravado for the sake of it can quickly be found out should results fail to materialise. While that can, of course, still happen with Derry, there was sufficient on-field conviction the other night to justify Robertson's reflections. The loitering supporters certainly believed so as they cheered his musings. As an unscheduled PR exercise it served a treat.

When hauling yourself from the floor, confidence and momentum are key. Robertson has moved swiftly to engage the fans.

"What I will bring is passion to the job," the former Inverness, Hearts and Livingston manager said at his unveiling. "I hope the players and the supporters will reflect that passion."

As his team took to the Dalymount pitch on Saturday, he whipped the Derry crowd into a frenzy and his players duly responded to the urgings of the giddy ones in the stands.

There's nothing scientific about his actions, but they provide an insight all the same. While fist-pumping and the like by managers may even be derided by some, here it lifted fans, who in turn lifted a team striving to regain purpose.

Of course, managers or players goading opposition fans or opponents, no matter what the code, is entirely different; it's petty and can seriously backfire. Just ask Mark Vaughan, the Dublin Gaelic footballer whose infantile showboating during the recent Leinster final provoked a widespread backlash.

Club officials, of course, are not cheerleaders, and the onus is on supporters to create an atmosphere to drive players on. Those of a Bohemians persuasion, though, dawdled through Saturday's game - passive in the stands, listless on the field and booed at the whistle. In the greater scheme of silverware, atmosphere is a small matter, but how some passion might have lifted the Phibsborough side.

Having seen their team bumble through the opening months of the season Derry supporters are holding out for an upturn in fortunes.

Their frustration lies in the fact the core of the squad remains little changed from recent seasons yet the spark has been missing. The verve evident under Stephen Kenny had evaporated. Pat Fenlon cited personal reasons for leaving after just five months but, whatever the reason, Derry were static during his reign.

Robertson, who arrived after failed attempts to land Pat Dolan and John Gill, appears to have hit the ground running. The former Hearts striker is the Edinburgh club's all-time leading scorer with 271 goals in 632 games, so is it any wonder he favours out-and-out attack?

Richly gifted, Derry are waiting to explode. Progress in the Champions League tomorrow will ignite their season - though Robertson's immediate mission lies closer to home, domestic respectability is paramount.

"I'm now questioning my players as to what they were up to earlier in the season," he said at the weekend. "If they were giving Pat Fenlon all that effort and commitment then why are they languishing in seventh? I've told the fans the worst they'll get from my team is a team that fights tooth and nail for that jersey and that badge.

"We're making bigger strides that even I would have hoped for at this early stage. While we may not win the title this season we'll have a big say in who does."