League Report: Derry City 0 - 2 Sligo Rovers

There was a shock at the Brandywell on Friday evening as Derry City suffered their first home league defeat of the season losing 2-0 to Sligo Rovers.

Dave Robertson’s side showed great resilience against the Candystripes who struggled to get into what was their worst performance of the season.

Derry started brightly when a clever move instigated by Aaron McEneff fed Barry McNamee but the Donegal man couldn’t stay in line and was beaten by the offside flag after one minute.

That would be the home side’s only real threat of the first half as Sligo Rovers caused Derry’s defensive partnership Patrick McClean and Ryan McBride significant problems at the back.

The usual Candystripe sharpness at the back was missing. Early on Jimmy Keohane was through on goal for Sligo but the midfielder could not get past keeper Gerard Doherty who stopped the effort putting it out for a corner kick.

Sligo Rovers were rampant with a flurry of corners that were put into the Derry area and City really struggled to clear their lines. John Russell played a number of lovely balls into the box, one that was met by an unmarked Mick Leahy, who should have busted the net with the golden opportunity.

Rory Patterson had Derry’s first shot on target on 24 minutes but goalkeeper Mícheál Schlingermann saved his hard strike from 20 yards comfortably.

The Candystripes were not able to keep possession for long and eventually were punished by Rovers. Central defender Regan Donelon played a fantastic long ball into the box, which was met by Raffaele Cretaro, scoring on his 450^th appearance for Sligo Rovers.

Highflying Nathan Boyle played no were near the standards he did two weeks ago when he scored a brace against Sligo Rovers in the EA Sports Cup and he was taken off for Ronan Curtis at half time by Kenny Shiels.

The BitO’Red started the second half much like they started the first and Cretaro again caused problems early on when he had an effort from long range. The Derry defence did not do themselfs any favours backing off from the attack but luckily for them the effort was stopped eventually by Doherty in the Derry goal.

As the Sligo attacks eased, Derry’s could not put the away side’s defence under much danger. The Brandywell side struggled all night to keep hold of possession and in doing so they struggled to create any significant chances all game.

With the lack of threat from Kenny Shiels’s men, Sligo’s onslaught returned and just after an hour mark they had another chance to double their lead.

A curling shot inside the box from Cretaro bounced off the post. Striker Liam Martin was there for the rebound but he also couldn’t convert the chance hitting the crossbar, before Gerard Doherty rescued the ball for Derry again.

However, Derry didn’t look like they had the energy at all to keep up with Sligo Rovers tempo of play, and were once again punished, when a shaky defence backed off Jimmy Keohane. He controlled the ball perfectly before slotting it past Gerard Doherty, to double his sides well deserved lead.

Derry City: Gerard Doherty; Niclas Vemmelund, Ryan McBride, Patrick McClean, Conor McDermott; Conor McCormack (Joshua Daniels 73), Aaron McEneff; Keith Ward (Dean Jarvis 57), Barry McNamee, Nathan Boyle (Ronan Curtis h/t); Rory Patterson;

Subs Not Used: Shaun Patton, Jordan Allen, Ryan Doherty, Aaron Barry.

Booked: None.

Sligo Rovers: Mícheál Schlingermann; Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Mick Leahy, Gary Boylan, Regan Donelon; Jordan Richards, John Russell (Phillip Roberts 90+3), Craig Rodden, Jimmy Keohane; Raffaele Cretaro (Kieran Sadlier 90); Liam Martin;

Subs Not Used - Chris Lyons, Ciaran Nugent, Gary Armstrong, Mickey Place, Jaanai Gordon.

Booked: Regan Donelon (19), Mick Leahy (55), John Russell (70), Craig Roddan (74),

Referee: Robert Rogers.

Attendance: 1,500 (estimate).

Extratime.ie Player of the Match: Raffaele Cretaro (Sligo Rovers).