Declan Devine - We fear no-one

DECLAN Devine insists that fearless Derry City will not buckle in the title race.

The Candystripes have not won the Premier Division since 1997 and, despite being well in the hunt throughout this, season, the Maiden City side are in something of a rut having now lost three of their last four games.

However, fourth-placed City are just five points adrift of St Patrick's Athletic - and Devine believes that his side have the mentality to push the Saints, Dundalk and Sligo all the way.

City have lost six games this season, three of those since Tiarnan Mulvenna hit an injury time winner at Brandywell at the start of July.

On Friday night, David Cawley and Danny North netted as Sligo scored a 2-1 win in Derry - the Bit O'Red's third win of the season over Derry.

"They have beaten us three times in the League, but we have still finished above them after the previous two series of games," Devine said.

"If we finish above them in this round we'll certainly be challenging. They have beaten us three times and nobody else scares us. Sligo don't scare us. There is nobody out there that scares us at this moment in time. If we play as well in the next game we'll win that."

Devine pointed to Ryan McBride's enforced departure in the 79th minute as a major blow to his side. The brave McBride left injured just three minutes before North hit Sligo's second goal. "He was outstanding. He was struggling and it was unfortunate for him.

"He got a knee into the back. He's playing with severe bruising to cheek bone and eye socket after a bad challenge in Limerick. It epitomises him that he's still willing to put his head in to win headers when his face is really sore. He just seized up on us."

There can be no doubting the impact of a missed Rory Patterson penalty in the 53rd minute. With the stalemate intact, Patterson's kick was beaten away by Gary Rogers - and it was the spur Sligo needed.

Devine said: "At that time, we had the momentum. We had Sligo on the back foot and they gained confidence from us missing the penalty and maybe we suffered a little downturn in our play. 

"One thing I won't criticise any player for is missing a penalty. It takes a lot of bravery to step up and I felt it was a decent penalty, but a very. very good save. That isn't the reason we lost the game. We lost the game because we switched off defensively and got punished for that."

City certainly had their chances, with Patterson and David McDaid both narrowly off target with first-half efforts, while Simon Madden whipped in a couple of dangerous crosses that forced, first Rogers to punch away and, then, Alan Keane to clear from just under the bar.

As he sat in the manager's office upstairs in the Brandywell clubhouse, Devine cut an optimistic figure.

"It's very hard to take, but when you play the top sides and you miss chances, eventually they will come back to haunt you," he admitted.

"At the same time, I'm trying to be positive.

"Some of the football we played against a top team was of the highest order. We created a lot of opportunities to score and their goalkeeper had a wonderful game. At the same time, we are disappointed. We've been punished for two mistakes and we didn't punish their mistakes. I'm proud of the players in terms of their application to the game and they went to try and win the game. 

"We have to make sure that we learn from the mistakes.

"Anyone who slags off the League of Ireland should have been here to witness two quality sides going head-to-head and trying to win the game with a positive way of playing.

"I'd have been disappointed if I was sitting here after a defeat and we hadn't given a good account of ourselves. We gave a good account - and we'll take those positives."

Before heading for Belfield on Friday night to take on UCD, Derry first have the small matter of an EA Sports League Cup semi-final at home to Drogheda United to attend to.

"The result is out of the system: I told the players to get their heads up, to go home and enjoy tonight, chill out and recover." said Devine.

"We have a chance to go home on Monday night with a Cup final to look forward to. It'll be very difficult. Drogheda will come mentally fresh because they got a good result (0-0 away to St Patrick's Athletic), so we have to make sure that we aren't mentally down because we lost. We have to be up for the challenge.

"There is a semi-final in the Brandywell on Monday night, so there's no question about players being up for it.

"Physically we'll prepare properly and get the recovery done. The positives are that we played some fantastic football and we defended well for long periods. We moved the ball about at pace. When Sligo ask questions of you and you stand up to be counted, you take a lot of positives from that."