Derry City must 'cut the crap' says Paul McMullan

The Scotsman, who set Michael Duffy up for Derry’s initial equaliser in the 2-2 draw at Weavers Park, claimed Derry 'shot ourselves in the foot' by giving up avoidable goals when they looked on course for a comeback victory over the Boynesiders.

Franz Pierrot caressed the ball into the corner of the Derry net with four minutes to go to earn draw specialists Drogheda a share of the spoils on a night of real frustration for Ruaidhri Higgins' troops who must lift themselves for the visit of champions Shamrock Rovers to Brandywell on Friday.

The Candy Stripes, who have dropped four points from winning positions in the opening 10 matches, go into that crunch clash having won just once in their last five and McMullan knows they can ill afford to gift-wrap chances to Rovers like they did for Drogheda.

"We obviously didn't want half-time to come," said McMullan. "We were playing great and we came out the second half, they changed it a bit and we never really got to grips with it. In the end, that goal was coming.

"We shot ourselves in the foot to start the game, we're a goal down already (after three minutes). If we tighten up a bit at the start and get your two goals, it's 2-0 and realistically you probably see out the second half. But that's the theme at the moment. We're giving away crap goals and it's hurting us.

"We stopped playing. We were killing them in the first half, playing through midfield. They changed it bit and made it a bit more difficult but we stopped playing completely and got punished for it."

Derry turn their attentions to a double header against Rovers and St Patrick's Athletic at Brandywell and McMullan highlighted how good the Candy Stripes' form has been since he made his debut for the club against Sligo on July 7th last year.

Higgins' side have lost just once (to Galway) in 15 games in all competitions since then - including wins over KuPs and HB Torshavn in Europe - and McMullan hopes to improve on that record when the champions visit.

"All the games are huge. If you disrespect anyone you don't win. We've already dropped two points here. We want to win every single game.

"Since I've been here, we lost to Galway but I don't think we've lost any games there (at Brandywell) other than that. We have two home games, Friday and Monday and we want six points. That's what we'll be working towards this week."