Derry City's title chance suffer blow as four match winning run ended by Sligo Rovers

DERRY CITY's four match winning run came to an abrupt end against Sligo Rovers on a miserable night for the Brandywell men at Sligo Showgrounds.

It was two defensive lapses which did the damage in the first half with former Derry defender and man of the match Patrick McClean breaking the deadlock after 19 minutes when the visitors failed to clear their lines from a corner kick.

Wilson Waweru then took full advantage of a goalkeeping howler from Brian Maher who hesitated when Ryan O'Kane's cross came in from the left side and the strike pounced for a crucial second goal.

Derry huffed and puffed in the second half with Michael Duffy and substitute Danny Mullen forcing two top drawer saves from Sam Sargeant but they didn't do enough to avoid a first defeat since May 30th.

Sligo were full value for the victory as they stretched their unbeaten run to four games but it was a big blow to Derry City's title chances as they remain nine points behind Shamrock Rovers with a game in hand and finish the weekend in third spot, one point behind Bohemians who leapfrogged into second.

Tiernan Lynch made one change from the team which started the previous four league fixtures and it was a notable one as ever present centre half Kevin Holt was absent and replaced by Shane Ferguson. Holt's omission from the squad added fuel to the rumour of his imminent Brandywell exit.

New signings Adam Frizzell and Alex Bannon were named on the bench but striker Dipo Akinyemi missed out as he awaits international clearance following his move from York City.

Sligo, buoyed by an impressive 2-2 draw against league leaders Shamrock Rovers last weekend, were unchanged as they looked to extend their three match unbeaten run.

The Bit O'Red were dominating the early stages in the stifling heat at the Showgrounds and Ollie Denham has the first real chance of the match when he headed over the crossbar after 15 minutes.

Sligo fully deserved to break the deadlock on 19 minutes and it was Derry man McClean who did the damage. A corner kick was floated into the penalty area and as the Derry defence didn't deal with it, McClean reactec quickest to steer the ball into the net at the back post.

That sparked Derry into action and on 22 minutes Michael Duffy's inswinging corner kick was met by the head of Cann who got away from Jad Hakiki but the alert Owen Elding headed off the line.

Derry were starting to get on the ball more on the half hour mark and when Gavin Whyte played a one-two with Ronan Boyce to leave the frontman in space, the ex-Portsmouth forward crossed towards the back post where Carl Winchester arrived late but was unable to direct his header on target.

Sligo doubled their lead in stoppage time thanks to a howler from Maher who hesitated and ultimately failed to deal with Ryan O'Kane's cross from the left and Waweru reacted quickest to volley the loose ball into the net.

It was a real blow for the visitors who were left with a mountain to climb in the second half.

Lynch made a half-time switch when replacing Whyte with Adam O'Reilly and moved Duffy up alongside Liam Boyce to lead the Derry line.

Sam Sargeant did brilliantly to deny Duffy who took the ball beyond McClean before firing towards goal but the Sligo keeper got a strong hand to it at full stretch.

O'Reilly did well when burting forward before sending in a cross towards Liam Boyce but last week's hat-trick hero couldn't get a touch on the ball as he launched himself towards it.

Lomboto got away from Mark Connolly and beat Maher in a race to the ball over the top but while his header bounced towards goal the referee assistant raised his flag for offside as Sligo looked most likeliest to score the next goal with 15 minutes to go.

With four minutes to go Duffy swung in a cross towards Benson and it broke to Danny Mullen whose shot on the turn from close range was tipped over the bar by Sargeant.

Sligo broke with Elding at the other end but Winchester tracked the strike and did brilliantly to cut out the danger.

Sligo came close to adding a third deep into stoppage time when Lomboto raced onto Fitzgerald's long ball and got beyond Connolly but under pressure from debutante Alex Bannon the striker fired just wide of the far post.

Maher saved from Hakiki on 94 minutes as the game became stretched with Derry throwing caution to the wind in the hope of halving the deficit.

They simply didn't do enough to get anything from the game and the result will be a huge blow to their chances of catching Shamrock Rovers.

Sligo Rovers: Sargeant; McClean, McManus, Denham, Hakiki, Fitzgerald, O'Kane (McDonagh 76), Reynolds, Doyle-Hayes; Elding, Waweru (Lomboto 61).

Derry City: Maher; Boyce (Patton 83), Connolly, Cann, Todd, Ferguson (Bannon 60); Winchester, Diallo (Benson 72); Whyte (O'Reilly h-t), L. Boyce (Mullen 61), Duffy.

Referee - Rob Hennessy.