Doherty disappointed with Derry defeat

Over the last number of seasons Derry City goalkeeper Ger Doherty has made a real name for himself with his netminding exploits; his performances were rewarded last season when he was voted SWAI Goalkeeper of the Year. The Derry man has taken the plaudits (and rightly so) but on Friday night he wasn’t afraid to criticise himself as the Candystripes were beaten 1-0 away to Shelbourne.
 

A well-taken strike from Philip Hughes in the 43rd minute settled matters but Doherty was annoyed with the way the goal was conceded.
 

“I’m very disappointed just in the way the goal was conceded; a mistake from myself,” he told extratime.ie. “We are disappointed but the main thing now is that we learn from it now. We are more or less a new team and we have to learn from a defeat and move on. We have a big game coming up on Tuesday (Linfield in the Setanta Cup).”
 

Doherty admitted that the plan was to take the game to Shels right from the start; they had a few chances in the opening few minutes but Shels settled the better and were able to take a grasp of proceedings. The keeper wasn’t happy with the way his side started the game.

“We had a plan to come out and attack early on and really press. We done that in Bray last week and we got our rewards. I don’t think we started the game well to be fair and we sat back a wee bit. In the second half we were a lot better and had a couple of half chances; we also hit the bar a few times. But you can’t be conceding goals like that if you want to win matches.”
 

Minutes into the second half Derry thought they had levelled matters but Pat McEleney’s powerful free-kick came crashing off the underside of the crossbar. It looked to have crossed the line but it wasn’t given.  Doherty was unhappy with not only that decision but others that went against his side during the game.

“We did ask if anybody saw if it went over. One of the guys mentioned that one of the Shels defenders said it was over the line. At the end of the day we didn’t get it. I think there was a couple of decisions that didn’t go our way especially the sending off. Rory (Patterson) said he didn’t say anything to the ref and he gets a yellow for that. For the tackle I thought it was a good one and he didn’t deserve a yellow for that one. It is a bit disappointing.”
 

Derry City have to now put this defeat behind them as they look forward to their Setanta Cup second leg clash with Linfield in the Brandywell on Tuesday night – score is 1-1 on agg. Then next Friday they entertain Cork City in the league. The Candystripes’ shotstopper is delighted to have these games to look forward. “We have no time to dwell on this defeat. I suppose it is a good thing that the games are coming thick. The quicker they come around the better.”