ARTHUR DUFFY was at Brandywell

Photographs: LORCAN DOHERTY

And while the ‘Candy Stripes’ had held an outside chance of figuring in the Premier Division Championship race, Friday night’s setback surely ends a possibility of a surprise winner.
However, there’s no doubt that Derry will feel hard done-by following a match which they dominated, particularly in the second half but their failure to breach Barry Murphy’s goal cost them dearly in the end.

Rovers, who would have taken a share of the spoils before the kick-off, repeated their antics of the previous weekend when defeating a frustrated Sligo Rovers who, like Derry on Friday night, had enjoyed so much of the play.

In the end, the game’s priority is to score goals and both Derry and Sligo will have few complaints on that front.

Not surprisingly, it was a delighted Scully who greeted the Press afterwards, suggesting that he’s become a “very happy manager” thanks to the effort put in by his players this season.

“This was a great win for us, particularly when you consider how young that team was,” declared the Rovers boss.

“To lose our captain, Aiden Price, so early in the game, and to be fair to him he kept going for a while, it shows his character to keep going for another 20 minutes or so before he had to come off.

“After that I think our oldest player on the pitch was probably 23 years-old. The average age of our team was 20 or 21 and to come here and be so strong and so brave and be prepared to stand up to Derry the way we did, was excellent. I thought we always looked threatening,” he added.

Bossed the ball

But Scully did admit that during the second half Derry bossed the ball during what was their best phase of the game yet he felt the home side failed to create too many clear-cut chances and his keeper, Murphy, did well when called upon.

“I think there was a 20 minute spell in the second half when we didn’t keep the ball very well and Derry got on top of us but they didn’t really create too many real, clear-cut chances.

“I felt the one real, quality move of the game was our goal. It was a fantastic goal, great play from Padraig (Amond), great movement from Tadhg (Purcell) and a quality finish. So, considering how young the team was, I’m very, very pleased with the victory.

“We’re developing very well, I’m very happy where we are at the minute. People have made a few statements saying that we haven’t done as well as last year but I would disagree with that. I think if you’re looking to be successful you have to have the right principles and you have to have the right standard and this year the players have been fantastic and this was another great result for us.

“Derry had a lot of possession and they had a huge height advantage at corners after Aiden went off injured. But I thought our defending for the second ball was fantastic.