"We can't lose that belief in ourselves' after Derry City defeat says St Patrick's Athletic boss

The former Rangers striker rated his team's performance as 'the best I've seen us play up here' and felt they should've taken something from their second away trip of the season.

However, Daly admitted you can ill afford to leave Pat Hoban unmarked inside the penalty area or you'll get punished as they did for the equalising goal in the second half – a goal which galvanised the 3,000 plus supporters at Brandywell.

"That's the best I've seen us play up here. I thought we played really well," said the former Hearts coach. "We've come up and I think we've dominated large parts of the game.

"But if you don't pick up Pat Hoban from a corner or you allow yourself to get blocked then you give yourself problems. It was obviously a fantastic ball in from [Will] Patching and a good header to get themselves back in it. At 1-1 we had a great chance with Chris Forrester and then it came out to Luke Turner and it flashes past the post.

"They obviously go down the other end and finish the chance they get and that's the difference. It's small margins and we have to learn from it and need to try and pick ourselves up."

There was a flashpoint at the end of the first half when Brian Maher went down injured and Ruaidhrí Higgins called his players ashore to deliver a message and make a tactical switch.

Several Pat's players were lurking at the back of the Derry huddle which prompted Hoban to wrestle Chris Forrester to the ground in front of the dugouts. The Galwegian got a booking for his troubles but Daly made no apologies for his players' actions adding his players were 'well within their rights'.

"When Brian Maher goes down injured, the tactical injury and they're changing things it's a sign that something's working," he said. "They've obviously changed shape in the second half as well to try and match us up. I thought when they did that it took our players a little bit of time to work it out.

"They've done it a few times now against us and I've seen them do it previously," he said of the 'tactical' delay in play. "We've made the players aware of it that it's something that they do. It's clever on their part because obviously if your goalie goes down he doesn't get asked to go off the pitch.

"It's part of the game you have to deal with it but I think our boys are well within their rights to stand anywhere on the pitch. It caused a little scuffle but that's part of it. You just need to deal with it."

That's two defeats from their opening three games and ahead of a trip to Waterford on Monday, it's far from the ideal scenario. Daly's not panicking though at this early juncture in the season.

"We're obviously frustrated and disappointed and I'm gutted for the boys. Even last week against Bohs I felt we dominated large periods of it and then got punished for a mistake. We should've came out of the game with something and 100 per cent tonight we should've got something out of the game but I'm standing here and we didn't get anything so it's frustrating.

"We can't lose that belief in ourselves. I still think we have a fantastic group of players and once it clicks we'll be fine. We have to make sure we don't dwell on it and don't let it fester."

The sight of his close season signing Ruairi Keating getting off the mark in emphatic fashion at the start of the first half will have pleased the Saints boss and he hopes it's the first of many.

"He's probably been starved of a bit of service and tonight we got a bit closer to him in terms of when he was linking up play and holding the ball but he took his finish fantastically well today and that's why he was brought to the club, to score goals like that in games like this.

"As a striker when you go to a new club you want to get off the mark as quickly as you possibly can. He's done that tonight and hopefully that's the first of many for him."

Daly spent more than 15 years of his playing career in Scotland at Dundee United, Rangers and Raith Rovers before turning his hand to coaching at Hearts. And so he was fully aware of the qualities of Derry's Scottish subs Danny Mullen and Paul McMullan who made such a significant impact on the game in the second half.

"Duffy gets down the side and has the composure to play the pass for the winner. It's a great finish from Mullen, a fantastic finish and he has quality. He's proven that in Scotland and is obviously a player I've seen in Scotland from my time over there. He's scored a lot of goals over there and has real quality. I think the squad Derry have got is a fantastic squad and they will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season as hopefully we will be.

"We've played three games and lost two which not ideal but it's early. We need to make sure we get a couple of results on the board and get ourselves back in touch as quickly as we can.

"The league is going to be very tight this year. Everybody is capable of beating everybody on their day. We'll dust ourselves down and get ourselves ready for Monday down in Waterford."