Derry City's Ibrahim Meite happy he was spot on

The big frontman, who netted from the penalty spot in Tolka Park, was playing his first match since March when he played in Bulgarian club OFC Pirin’s scoreless draw with Litex Lovech.

Meite joined Warren Feeney’s side but only played for ex-Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov's hometown club Pirin once before returning to London as the coronavirus pandemic shut down football before eventually making the move to the Candy Stripes, so getting some game time in Dublin at the weekend was pleasing for him.

“Yeah I enjoyed my first start. I was buzzing to get back out on the pitch, but obviously I was a bit tired,” he insisted.

“In the second half I made a run and I just felt my leg cramping up, so hopefully the more games I play I’ll be able to get back 100 per cent fitness.

“That was my first game since so long ago. I can’t even remember when my last game took place.

“My last game was in Bulgaria, I had one game in Bulgaria, and then it was just quarantine and I went back to Milton Keynes to quarantine and then moved to Derry.

“Hopefully I’ll get back into training as soon as possible and hopefully with the next game I’ll be able to kick-on.

“I felt pretty sharp to be fair, as I have been running a lot during quarantine and trying to keep myself as fit as possible. Luckily I had two weeks of just running to build me up and now it’s about getting a bit match sharpness back, but I felt alright.”

The former Cardiff City centre-forward was quick to tell skipper Ciaron Harkin that he was going to take the penalty after being fouled inside the box on Saturday and he admitted his first taste of League of Ireland football was a positive one.

“As a striker you always want to score goals and I reckon if I didn’t go down for the penalty I could have probably scored anyway, so yeah I definitely wanted to kick-on and get my first goal,” he added.

“I have taken penalties a few times so, as a striker, you want to score goals.

“It’s a good standard and the pace was also good so it’s now just about getting my head in the game and hopefully kick-on and score a lot more goals for the Derry fans.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high-quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the highest standards in the world.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive.

We are now more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you