Declan Devine 'gutted' as Derry City 'waste' Europa League opportunity

The City boss felt his team missed a golden opportunity to progress past an unimpressive FK Riteriai in Vilnius and blamed defensive lapses for the club's heart-breaking extra-time defeat.

Lithuanian international striker Donatas Kazlauskas proved the match winner with a decisive 25 yard strike which sailed over the head of Peter Cherrie during the opening minute of extra-time.

Ex-Dunfermline midfielder Joe Thomson scored his first goal for the club to give Derry a deserved 17th minute lead but two avoidable goals either side of the half-time interval from Gytis Paulauakas turned the tie on its head.

Eoin Toal scored his first European goal with a towering header to level matters but that extra-time strike from Lithuania international striker, Kazlauskas ended Derry's hopes.

Riteriai have struggled in their domestic campaign, recording just one victory in their 16 league games and Devine knows his side should've done better.

And the City boss admits his team must address its defensive frailties.

"It's a wasted opportunity to progress through to the next round," he said. "The matter in which we conceded our goals is very disappointing, but we were very wasteful also in front of goal.

"You can't afford to give any team the goals that we gave them tonight and it's something that has happened in a few games already this season and it's something we have to address, but at the minute it's very disappointing for everybody.

"That tonight was an opportunity for us to progress in a round in Europe. I think in the attacking sense we have created a lot of chances and we needed to score and we needed to take another one or two and kill the game off especially when we went 1-0 up.

"But as I said, we have given away three poor goals on the night which ultimately has knocked us out of Europe and we can't give away those goals.

"Our management of the game wasn't what it should have been," he continued. "We should have been really going for the jugular and finishing the game off in the early stages of the first half.

"We started the game relatively well but finished the first half really disappointing."

Devine was dealt a significant blow prior to kick-off as key forward, Walter Figueira and in-form midfielder, Jack Malone were both ruled out through injury.

"The players tonight who were missing Jack Malone and Walter Figueira, who picked up injuries over the last few days were huge losses for us, so we were down to the bare bones in terms of our squad.

"I'm absolutely gutted and disappointed for the effort that we put into the game but you simply can't give away the goals that we conceded and expect to qualify through in a round in Europe."