Derry City coach pays tribute to match winners Benson and Whyte

A first half header from Danny Mullen was added to by superb strikes by Benson and Whyte which moved City to within five points of Premier Division leaders Drogheda United ahead of tonight's visit of Sligo Rovers to the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.

And, on a night of firsts which saw Benson and Whyte register their first goals for the Candy Stripes since close season moves - as well as Mullen grabbing his opening strike of the season - Mitchell hopes fans will now to see the best of the former Dundalk and Portsmouth duo.

"I'm absolutely delighted for the both of them," said Mitchell on Derry's second half goalscorers at a venue where the Candy Stripes hadn’t won since 2015, "I thought Robbie was superb; I actually think he has done well in the last couple of games. He's made us tick.

"These guys are probably coming into real fitness now. They have worked really, really hard, things that people don't see, but they have worked hard to get their fitness back and, to be fair, you probably saw the best of the both of them tonight. Gavin was bang on it, Robbie kept us ticking and his goal was absolutely superb. What a great strike and what a great finish.

"There were questions asked (after the Drogheda defeat) and we weren't shying away from it. We had a good talk with all the boys this week. We had individual chats and we had a team meeting about it, and we can't let that happen, but there's only one way to respond in football and that's the next match.

"Galway away, a tough place to come where they put balls in your box so you have to defend your box and have to defend your goal, but I thought to a man we stood up to it tonight. There were questions asked but we fully backed it up tonight."

An excellent night's work was blighted slightly by a second red card of the season for Derry manager Tiernan Lynch who was sent off during half-time by match referee Declan Toland following a controversial incident in the opening half. With City leading 1-0,

Gavin Whyte was stopped from going through on goal by an offside decision against Mullen who wasn't interfering in play. To compound Derry's frustrations, the resultant free-kick led to Pat Hickey's equaliser for Galway.

Mitchell admitted he was bemused by the decision and hinted Lynch may appeal his dismissal.

"Everything we asked the lads to do they were doing really well and then as soon as we got the (opening) goal, I felt we waited," he explained, "We waited for them to come back into the game.

"Then the referee's decision; I don't know what he's thinking with Danny. Gavin takes the ball off their centre-half, but then they get the decision and go up the other end and score, which puts us on the back foot.

"We're not actually sure what happened and that's the God's honest truth," he adds of the Lynch red card, "I believe the gaffer is going to ask questions about it himself.

"The worst thing for us is that we've lost our manager again and it's not nice, but again we just have to rally around each other and get past this. We'll have to watch it back to see what happened, because we don't actually know. T

"here was a decision in the game and there were just 'handbags' on the bench, there was no malice in it. The two benches got caught up in the play, but I don't understand, our manager gets sent off and they get nothing."

Despite the loss of Lynch from the touchline, Derry provided the perfect response to the criticism received after the home defeat to Drogheda and Mitchell wants to see the players used it as a platform to build on, beginning on Tuesday night at home against Sligo Rovers.

"We're conceding really sloppy goals and that needs to stop," he added, "We're giving teams goals whereas we have to work really, really hard for our goals. Once we cut that out, I think we'll be able to put a run together.

"We've come to two tough venues now and we've been up against it, but we've reacted well and the boys have got to take massive confidence from that. As a staff, we have great belief in them. We see the work they put in and we see the talent in the squad and we believe in them.

"We have to make the Brandywell a fortress now. We haven't hit the ground running at home yet. We have got to make sure we get that crowd behind us and get that new stand behind us and give them something to cheer about, because up to now, we haven't.

"There's no better opportunity now because we're going into it on the back of a great win, and a really hard-fought win. We travelled to Galway the day before the game and we got a good bit of team bonding for a new squad, and those wee trips away, those bus journeys, all these things you need for cohesion and we got that in abundance."