Derry City were like 'rapid dogs' says Waterford boss after Brandywell humiliation

​The Liverpudlian apologised to supporters for his team's performance he described as 'men against boys' and warned they could yet find themselves involved in a relegation scrap if they don't find a response against bottom of the table Cork City in the Munster derby next weekend.

"You can talk until you're blue in the face and look for excuses but we have no excuses tonight," said the former Accrington Stanley manager. "I just have to apologise to our travelling support coming all that way and staying with us until the end.

"I just apologise we've left them going home with us being humiliated and them being humiliated and that's difficult to take. No words that I say will appease them.

"The harsh reality is that the honeymoon is over for me with the fans and for some of the players. You've always got to strive to get better.

"A big diagonal ball caught us on the backfoot and they scored. After that we sort of folded. I've been managing for 29 years and it's probably happened to me three or four times and it's a terrible thing. You've seen it happening in front of your eyes and there's not much you can do about it. I have to look at myself before I criticise my players.

"There's four basics in football. You have to be able to head it; You have to be able to tackle; You have to be able to run and you have to be able to pass. And we did none of that tonight and they did it in spades.

"You have to take your hat off to Derry, they were very, very good. You get to games when it's 4-0 second half and the other team sort of ambles through it but they didn't, they were like rabid dogs. They smelled the blood and went for the blood. Fair play to them. “Tiernan's got a good team there. He's got a good set of players there. I'm not going to offer up any excuses but you sink or you swim in football but we've got to find a response for next week or we can go into our shells and go into a relegation scrap. It was a mismatch tonight. It was men against boys and that shouldn't be the case."