Ciaran answers Derry City’s ‘Coll’ with late equaliser against Sligo Rovers

CIARAN Coll kept Derry City’s unbeaten start to the season intact as his powerful 81st minute header denied Sligo Rovers victory at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.

The in-form Max Mata took his season’s tally to five goals with a well taken downward header from close range after a fine team move as Sligo stunned their hosts on 25 minutes.

Before that Derry fans were incensed as Jamie McGonigle’ had the ball in the back of the net on 10 minutes but it didn’t count as match referee Adriano Reale bizarrely delayed his whistle before calling play back for a foul on Ollie O’Neill.

Derry were well on top at that stage and City players were up in arms at the decision not to play advantage.

Coll headed in from Ben Doherty’s corner kick with nine minutes to go but Sligo’s Estonian midfielder Bogdan Vastsuk wasted a glorious chance to clinch the three points shortly afterwards when clean through on goal but he screwed his shot wide of the post.

Derry finished in the ascendancy without testing Luke McNicholas during seven minutes of added on time as both teams settled for a share of the spoils on this St Patrick’s Day clash on Foyleside.

The Candystripes go into the international break in second place, three points behind league leaders Bohemians but Ruaidhri Higgins will be disappointed to have taken just two points from two home fixtures in the space of seven days.

Derry made two changes from the team held scoreless by Dundalk last weekend with Ronan Boyce replacing the injured Mark Connolly. Ollie O'Neill was back in the starting line-up at the expense of Jordan McEneff who dropped to the bench.

John Mahon, Niall Morahan and Bogdan Vastsuk were all handed starts as John Russell made three changes. Stefan Radosavljevic, Lukas Browning and Eanna Clancy began on the bench.

It was a bright start from the home team who carved up an early opening on two minutes,

Ben Doherty got past his man inside the penalty area before crossing towards the back post towards Ryan Graydon but a Sligo defender managed to get a vital intervention to take it away from the City winger.

Jamie McGonigle latched onto O'Neill's pass, turned sharply inside the box but blasted high over the bar moments later.

The attendance got to their feet on the fifth minute and lit their phone torches in memory of Derry's legendary centre half Ryan McBride to mark the sixth anniversary of his tragic death which occurs on Sunday.

There was controversy on 10 minutes when McGonigle got onto the end of Patching's pass, took it past a defender and rifled it into the net with a smart finish.

However, bizarrely the match referee decided to blow the whistle just as the striker was about to bear down on goal and bring it back for a free-kick to Derry, penalising John Mahon for a foul on O’Neill having initially appeared to have played the advantage.

It was a strange decision which had the Derry players up in arms and it was met by a chorus of jeers from home support.

It was all one-way traffic but Derry were hit with a sucker punch after a lovely move started by Fabrice Hartmann who swivelled past three Derry players in the middle of the park on 25 minutes.

Bolger found Fitzgerald worked the ball wide to Hutchinson who delivered a terrific ball towards the back post over the head of Coll and the in-form Mata met it with a downward header from close range to give the Bit O'Red a surprise lead.

There was a long stoppage following an injury sustained to Johan Brannefalk who was eventually replaced by Karl O'Sullivan with three minutes of normal time remaining.

Seven minutes of stoppage time were added and Patrick McEleney was presented with a gilt-edged chance from Patching's corner kick but he snapped at his left footed shot at the back post and it went wide.

Sligo made a double switch at the start of the second half as the injured O'Sullivan was replaced by Browning and Clancy came on for Mahon who had been booked and was fortunate to have lasted the duration of the first half after an accumulation of fouls.

The pressure was mounting on Sligo and on 69 minutes Derry really should've been level. Graydon did brilliantly to race in behind Clancy before picking out Boyce but the defender's glancing header went narrowly over the crossbar.

With nine minutes to go Coll made no mistake with his powerful header from Doherty's inswinging corner kick to level the game.

Moments later Sligo missed a glorious chance to restore their lead as Bolger sent Vastsuk clean through on goal but the Estonian midfielder somehow screwed his shot wide of the target with just Brian Maher to beat.

It was a real let-off for the hosts and with seven minutes injury time signalled by the fourth official the home crowd sensed there could be a winner.

Both teams had chances with substitute Frank Liivak forcing a neat save from Maher with his shot from the edge of the box.

That was the last chance of the match and City will welcome the break in action as they look to get some of their walking wounded back.

Derry City: Maher: Boyce (C. Kavanagh 79), S. McEleney (McLaughlin 87), Coll, Doherty: Graydon, Diallo, P. McEleney, O'Neill (B. Kavanagh 67); Patching (McEneff 68); McGonigle; Subs Not Used - Ryan, Ward, Patton, Mullan, Barr.

Sligo Rovers: McNicholas; Brannefalk (O'Sullivan 42, Browing h-t), Hutchinson, Pijnaker, Vastsuk (Barlow 83); Fitzgerald, Bolger, Morahan (Liivak 74), Hartmann, Mahon (Clancy h-t). Mata; Subs Not Used - Brush, Lafferty, Radosavljevic, Cawley.

Referee - Adriano Reale.